Footwear shopping is not as easy as many ‘shoe-noobs’ would think it is. What style of shoes do I buy? What kind of outfits will they go with? How much heel is too much heel? Although we cannot answer most of those questions ourselves, here are a few questions we can help you. So in other words, if you’re getting to go shoe shopping, do not forget to take a walk-through into this ultimate footwear list of shoe styles with their names.
1. Pumps
Defined by the thin, high heel, stilettos are both a blessing and a curse to women. The shoe style is such that it can work as formal footwear for ladies and glamorous style shoes in one go! What are the types of heels that have made many a sensible woman empty her savings? Stilettos.
A kitten heel is a short, slender heel, usually from 1.5 inches to 1.75 inches high, with a slight curve setting the heel in from the back edge of the shoe. Known to be the favourite of power-packed women like Audrey Hepburn, Michelle Obama, and Hilary Clinton, these are on the top 5 list of best women formal shoes.
A staple in most winter wardrobes around the world today, boots were not recognised as high fashion footwear until the 1970s. They could also be used as a type of formal shoes for girls.
Also known as the women’s T-strap sandal, this type of shoe was first popularized during the 1920s. The style featured a pointed toe with a strap that reached toward the ankle from the center of the toe to a flat belt circling the ankle. It’s debatable if they could be considered one of the types of formal shoes.
This type of shoes is defined by a single piece of material serving as both the sole and the heel. Typically with a sole that is much thicker at the back compared to the front, making it high heeled shoe style.
Wide where it connects to the sole of a shoe and narrowing significantly to the point where it reaches the ground, cone heels are unique and different, types of shoes that are usually worn with fun and flirty dresses.
T-strap sandals with several straps running across the front of the foot, Gladiator sandals are the most comfortable and flexible of the different types of shoes for women.
Characterized by a strap that crosses behind the heel or ankle, these classy pair of shoes are a must-have in a women’s formal shoes collection.
Ballet flats, ballerinas or Dolly shoes are inspired by women’s soft ballet shoe, with a very thin heel creating an appearance of no heel at all, with closed toes.
Keeping it simple, and easy to breathe, open toe sandals are the best type of shoes to be wearing in the summer.
It has an opening at the toe-box which allows the toes to show, Peep toe heels are used as both formal wear and party wear.
With an apparent thick sole, usually in the range of 3–10 cm, and heel that is raised significantly higher than the ball of the foot, platform heels are not for the clumsy women.
A spool heel is a heel that is wide at the top and bottom and narrower in the middle, considered far more practical and comfortable than all the other different kinds of heels.
Characterised by a closed, low-cut, with one or more straps across the instep, Mary Janes is an American term for these shoes also known as bar shoes or doll shoes.
Characterised by ‘close-lacing’, Oxfords at their purest form are meant to be a type of women’s formal shoes. However, they’ve evolved over the years to be more suitable as casual shoes too!
If you’ve heard clueless women ask you ‘are shoes and boots the same thing?’, Wait till they see mules! But in its most simplistic sense, Mule is a style of shoe that has no back or constraint around the foot’s heel.
The most popular and commonly used form of the slip-on, loafers are also known as slippers. For women, these have to be the most comfortable types of formal shoes.