Making Flip-Flops Work

One of the things I always stress to my style students is attention to detail. No matter where you go, make sure you’ve got the right outfit and that you’re always trying to make a statement.

But what about when you’re going out to a beach (either for a walk or to get a tan)? If you’ve never thought about what to wear in such situations… it’s time.

This article will focus particularly on flip-flops, then I’m going to give you some suggestions of what to wear with them.

Yes, you’re absolutely right. There are plenty of summer choices out there, such as sandals, espadrilles, boat shoes and other types of moccasins. But flip-flops are cool and I’ll tell you why.

First off, flip-flops will give you that casual vibe that you should project when going to a casual encounter. Have you ever seen guys go to the beach in leather shoes? Scary, isn’t it? I always pictured them walking with them through sand – FAIL.

Which brings me to my first point about flip-flops:

Where?

Wear them:

– at the beach
– at a family picnic
– at a barbecue
– in an Aquapark

Don’t wear them:

– in restaurants
– when going out to a bar, club or just out

As you can see, flip-flops have a pretty narrow set of situations where they’re appropriate. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking about what what kind to get and how to match them. Which leads us to…

What fabric should my flip-flops be?

This is an easy one. First choice is leather, second choice is rubber.

You would think leather is inappropriate for hot summer days but leather flip-flops are an exception. Leather means quality and a quality flip-flop is what you’re after. Your foot won’t have any trouble breathing because flip-flops have excellent air circulation (due to their construction), so that’s not a problem.

If you can’t find any leather flip-flops and you’re no the run, it’s OK to go for rubber or some other kind of synthetic fabric. These won’t be as durable as leather ones but they will be cheaper.

How to match them with the rest of the outfit?

Before I would purchase my flip-flops, I would have in mind the clothes I’ll be wearing them with. I’d try to have flip-flops complete my avatar in some way.

Example. I have a military khaki polo shirt, a pair of khaki shorts, a beige baseball cap and a pendant that has US Army written on it. Can you guess which avatar I’m wearing? Yep, it’s military.

Now, what flip-flops should I be wearing? If your answer was “the ones in the first picture from this article”, you’re absolutely right.

Say you’re wearing a blue and white t-shirt with blue or white short. It only makes sense to get some flip-flips in those colors. Something like this:

Warning about matching your flip-flops

I know you look at the above picture and you think that blue color stands out a lot. But, when you wear them, all the entire sole will be hidden below your foot so most of the blue color will not be there. This is important to keep in mind when matching them with the rest of your outfit.

Where to get them

There’s always the option to get them right when you’re on your way to the beach, but then you won’t have the luxury of getting exactly what you want. You can find Flip Flops for the Summer at JD in their virtual store, where you can get both the flip-flops in the 2 pictures above and many other fantastic models.