Ever feel like things go out of style unjustly? Some things I can understand, but others are so amazing they should be immortalized! This is how I feel about hi-tops. Particularly Converse sneakers. For some reason, I am completely obsessed with hi-tops and I insist on wearing them with almost everything. Over my years of insisting on hi-tops, I have discovered a few style tips that help me pull off my hi-top look even when I wanna be a bit dressy, and since there are so few of us hi-top lovers, I thought I would share what I learned over the years since there wasn’t anyone around to tell me these things. So here’s what I learned about styling my sneakers with just about everything in my closet.
Lesson one might not apply to most of the population, but it took me almost 3 years of wearing my hi-tops to figure this one out. I am pretty tall for a chick. 5′ 10″ to be exact and this little fact makes all sorts of things harder for me in the realm of fashion and style. Who knew it would effect even how my shoes look?
I have always had to wear a long or a tall in jeans, but skinny jeans seemed to be the exception. They looked fine to me, but for some reason, I always thought they looked funny with my hi-tops. I remember seeing a girl in skinny jeans worn over her hi-tops. She looked so cool! Not only was she wearing the best footwear of all time, she was rocking them with skinny jeans, which I could never seem to do. Was she just a unicorn? While I still couldn’t figure out why she could wear them like this and I couldn’t, I did discover the art of rolling your jeans thanks to Pinterest. I always wore my skinny jeans rolled just above my sneakers and I got along just fine until one fateful day in an Old Navy dressing room when I learned an awesome secret.
Let me just say I adore Old Navy jeans because they make so many styles in LONG! Finding pants long enough that don’t break the bank is a lifelong struggle for me, and Old Navy and their awesome sales have made this possible. Turns out their skinny jeans are no exception. I’d never had the opportunity to try them in long and as I put my hi-tops on with them, I realized that my jeans looked way cool pulled down over my sneakers when they were actually long enough. Another thing I like is that they sell regular skinny and super skinny. I discovered that even though they’re long enough, super skinny jeans look kinda funny with hi-tops while the regular skinny look fantastic. I have two pairs and I wear them all the time. They are definitely a tall hi-top lovers dream!
My next lesson is hi-tops and capris. This is a daring move. I have seen very, very few people wearing this combination, but I don’t let that stop me. Admittedly, hi-tops look way better with shorts than capris, but I’m not a big fan of shorts. They’ve just never been my thing. However, I love wearing them with tights underneath and I feel like hi-tops look just as good with shorts whether you wear them with tights or without.
When I first tried my hi-tops with capris, I was still in my cargo capri phase. Not that I don’t still love the cargo style, I just feel like something about the combination makes the legs look funny. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I think it’s the fact that the cargo style makes the legs look bigger and the hi-tops kind of take away the appearance of the ankle and I just don’t think it makes for a flattering look on me.
When I decided to wear them with my fitted denim capris, I liked the look way better. I also like the fact that these capris are shorter. To go with my hi-tops and shorts philosophy, the shorter the capris, the better it looks. Just past the knee is my favorite length for wearing my hi-tops. This has become one of my favorite summer looks and if I’m ever lucky enough to run into someone else sporting their hi-tops with capris, I make sure to tell them what awesome sneakers they have!
And of course, you knew we would get here, wearing your hi-tops with skirts and dresses. I have to confess that I personally feel there are some dresses/skirts I just won’t wear with hi-tops. On the rare occasions that this happens, I usually find myself asking to raid mom’s closet for footwear that doesn’t look quite so “all terrain.”
As I said though, this is rare. So let’s talk about all the awesome slightly more formal combos I’ve put together. In the summertime I adore maxi skirts. As a teenager, I watched a girl talking about fashion on YouTube and she said you can wear anything you would wear with jeans with a maxi skirt. This was music to my ears! I’d been kind of dressing my black maxi skirt up, but after I heard this, I was wearing it with fitted graphic tees, and of course, my hi-tops. It’s the perfect outfit for a summer day spent out shopping downtown or going to a farmer’s market.
Another summer favorite of mine is a t-shirt dress. I love my t-shirt dresses with my Converse! This is one of the most fun and comfortable styles known to us earthlings. Much like capris though, there is certain dress/skirt length that just doesn’t seem to go with hi-tops no matter what. A long dress or a dress that’s knee length or above works great with hi-tops in most cases, but a dress that comes to about mid calf just looks funky when worn with a hi-top shoe. Occasionally, I throw rules to the wind and wear my Converse anyway, but usually I break down and opt for a low-top option.
For the sake of this post, I decided to wear my standard black converse in all the photos, but I have about 15 different pairs and I love using different colors and prints to give my outfit an extra pop. I would like to think my creative and daring hi-top pairings are helping to bring them back in style, but I’m still waiting for it! It seems like just about every trend makes its resurgence so I’m just patiently waiting for the day when I can double my sneaker collection!
I would love to hear form other hi-top lovers out there! What’s your favorite way to style them? What’s one thing you refuse to wear them with no matter what?
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