Green A-line Pocket Dress with “Nude” Pumps

Today’s shoe choice was a joy.  Much like the black boot hunt, it took me a very long time to find these shoes.

Nude pumps bring with them a number of benefits. They elongate the leg, making one look taller and leaner (as you may have gleaned by now, I could use both a little bit more tallness and a lot more leanness). They allow the dress to be the standout (today mine were pair with a fabulous a-line forest green dress which was indeed a standout even if I do say so myself). They are extremely versatile across of number of outfits (mine work not just with dresses and skirts but also with various earth tone slacks and skinny jeans when I want the top to standout), seasons (mine are worn all year, including today when it snowed, yes it melted upon hitting the ground this early November, but still it snowed), and occasions (mine get worn too work most often, but occasionally—see skinny jeans above—are also the perfect going out shoe).

It took me several years to garner these many benefits of the nude pump. I have brown skin (not quite mocha, more like coffee with a small helping of milk). When you have skin the color of my skin finding a pair of nude pumps is VERY challenging. Unfortunately, girls of my skin color are NOT the target audience of your typical nude pump (I know this because I have tried on every “nude” pump ever made whether it came off an assembly line in China or was lovingly hand-stitched in the Italian countryside). Your typical nude pump, across various brands/designers ranging from Franco Sarto to Cole Haan to Prada, is targeted at your standard white girl. Being a fashion equal opportunist, this fact was deeply upsetting to me—for the longest time.

“I want to be nude too!” I would think to myself as I looked, and looked, and looked some more, for the nude pump that would work with my skin tone.

As I looked, I would see that many of shoes were paired with the exact style in different colors. The color “nude” was just one choice for an otherwise classic utilitarian pump (e.g. no buckles, no baubles, just the shoe occasionally with the open toe) that could also be found in black patent, red, chocolate brown, etc. Alas, none of those colors would have the desired effect no matter how impeccably styled said pump was.

Then, one day, I was browsing in my local Michael Kors store. I had previously had a lot of luck with various shoes from his ‘Michael’ and his ‘Kors’ lines. No matter what style, no matter which end of his line, no matter how high or what type of heel, MK’s 7 1/2s always fit like a glove. I could wear them all day with nary a complaint of discomfort. Needless to say, I was a BIG fan. Well, my MK fandom grew by leaps and bounds when I saw that he had conjured up two classic pumps, the Ghita and the Glitter, that came in 3 colors (at least as they were displayed at the store): black, nude, and camel.

Michael Kors Shoe Collection

Yes, “camel” that was it! “Camel” was my “nude.”

I eventually settled on the Ghita (with their more practice heel height and somewhat South Asian sounding name they seemed like the correct choice). I have, quite literally, gotten a lot of mileage from my Ghitas in the 11 months that I have had them, including today.

As I sat in my green dress, admiring the near seamless transition between my “nude” pump and my leg, I smiled thinking, “I love being nude.”

Related articles

• Christian Louboutin The Nudes: Nude for Every Skin Tone (runningwithheels.com)