While your grandmother might not have left the house without matching her shoes to her handbag, the style mantra in recent years has been quite the opposite: Avoid matchy-matchy looks like the plague.

Well, it seems that fashion rule is about to go out the window, as we couldn’t help but notice that street style stars have been matching their shoes to their outfit.

We don’t mean wearing all black either, but rather pairing a bright red dress with matching red shoes, for instance. So—because the women who gave this a go made it look so chic and polished—we’re now making it a point to try to match our shoes to our clothes.

Go for shoes in a slightly darker colour than your outfit to avoid clashing.

The trick to making this work is to opt for shoes in a slightly darker colour than your outfit, even if the difference in colour is incredibly subtle.

Take the look for a test drive with a print dress and matching coloured shoes.

Let’s call this matching for beginners: Try a stripe dress paired with matching shoes. Yes, the dress and shoes are the same colour, but because of the stripe print, some of the pressure is taken off of trying not to clash.

Want to make a major statement? Just go for it matching a print or embellished outfit with your shoes.

Try out a matching embellished dress and shoes. Get shoes in the same print fabrics as their clothing offerings.

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How to match shoes with your outfit

For any self-respecting fashionistas, matching her shoes with her outfit remains an indispensable requirement. While those rather simple minded members of the male community might look at it as a time consuming and cumbersome act, the ladies know that it is an investment in defining their looks and style. Despite this however, the fact remains that matching shoes with the outfit can prove to be a rather tricky affair and sometimes even the most experienced of the fashionistas can trip over it.

Why is matching shoes and the outfit so important?

• First of all from the fashion point of view, right shoes act as great accessories to not just complete the look, but also add a lot more of their own flair to it. The style, the colour and the texture of the shoes, all play an important part in achieving this.

• It’s very important to match the look and feel of the outfit with the look and given by the shoes. It’s important that the outfit and the shoes should convey the same message rather than pulling in opposite directions.

• A smart business jacket with the equally smart and formal trousers when paired with something like stilettos gives a contradictory message. While your outfit projects you as a serious work oriented person, but shoes are shouting "partyyy”.

•Therefore it becomes critical to match your shoes and the outfit, not just from the fashion point of view, but also in order to successfully project the kind of image that you want for yourself in a particular setting.

Therefore in an effort to help you all with this sacred practice of shoe and outfit matching, following is a brief set of guidelines and suggestions:Business outfits

• As explained in the example above shoes need to have the same no-nonsense business oriented look as your outfit.• Flat pumps or loafers with medium to high heel could be great options, with business trousers.• However in case you are wearing a knee length skirt, then flats might look sloppy, instead go for medium heels.

• Just because you are in the office doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your fashion sense. Look out for formal shoes in dressy avatars.In the evening and other such dressy occasions• High heels exude strongly feminine vibes, so they are perfect with elegant outfits like your flowing evening gown. • If you have to dance then you might want to consider high heels with straps as that would help in preventing twisting of your feet while dancing.Clubbing and night out with girlfriends • On such occasions when you are dressed to kill or set to light the dance floor on fire, your shoes need to be equally sexy and ‘menacing’.