Best Shoes to Wear With a Sheath Dress

Are you familiar with sheath dresses? I always think of a first lady or a super powerful business woman when I think of sheath dresses. 

These gorgeous dresses are one solid piece, is fitted enough to be shapely and feminine but it doesn’t cling to your curves, is typically sleeveless and knee length or a tiny bit shorter with a pencil skirt like bottom. 

Not to be confused with a shift dress, which follows more of an A-line cut and is less fitted!

So when you’re wearing a dress like this, what shoes do you wear with it? Does it have to be formal? Is it only for work? Nope! These awesome dresses can be dressed up or down courtesy of your footwear, and I’m about to show you how!

1. Sheath Dress with Open Toe Heels

Open toe heels are the sexy sister of the heel family, don’t you agree? I mean, heels in general are effortlessly sexy but there’s something about the strappy open toe look that really amps up the look.

2. Sheath Dress with Flats

A cute black sheath dress from Nordstrom with a ruffle detail at the bottom looks amazing with these animal print flats! Flats really don’t get the love they deserve, they can be such great shoe choices for your ourtifts.

3. Sheath Dress with Closed Toe Heels

Like the open toe heels, sheath dresses are fabulous with closed toe heels. These are almost more first-lady elegant looking, but seriously, nobody is going to tell you that you look anything other than amazing either way!

Is this monochromatic look not the most gorgeous you’ve ever seen? The gold hardware breaks it up and gives some some flash to the outfit. It’s super cute and would be great for work.

4. Sheath Dress with Boots

Wearing boots with sheath dresses are totally a thing. I personally prefer taller boots, but I think with the right pair you could rock some booties with them too! Here are a couple examples of how you can wear taller boots with your sheath dress!

This is a cool outfit example because she has so many layers and the picture actually breaks down what she’s wearing. 

A turtleneck beneath a sheath dress with a denim jacket over top. She’s also wearing tights or leggings and then her knee high boots, which makes this the perfect casual and warm outfit for those chilly winter days!

Sheath Dress with Flats

I love this black sheath dress with white stripes because of the white flats she’s wearing with it. Another cute casual look because of the denim jacket. If you wanted to dress this one up you could swap it for a blazer!

Sheath Dress with Closed Toe Heels

A plaid short sleeve sheath dress doesn’t need any extra bells or whistles, the pattern does all of the work!  

The thing with this is if you add any color to it you could do it subtly like you see here or you could go bold and add vibrance. A gorgeous royal blue bag and heels would be so fun!

5. Sheath Dress with Sandals

Sandals and sheath dresses are great summer and spring combinations! All sandals will work with these, really.  Break out those gladiators, espadrilles, strappys, and even those flip flops.

These cute brown braided sandals look great with her patterned blue sheath dress. This is the ultimate brunch look, don’t you think? She’s gone casual with this look, even adding a denim jacket with it. Proof that your sheath dress doesn’t have to be formal!

Just to put this out there- Anthropologie everything is cute. End rant. These wrap sandals are a fun color pop to this simple blue anthropologie sheath dress.

They’re just a cool example that you can wear unique shoes with these dresses without ruining them.

6. Sheath Dress with Sneakers

If you’re going to wear a sheath dress with sneakers, I highly recommend you wearing crisp clean sneakers such as (or similar to) keds, vans, adidas, or converse.

Because sheath dresses are such… feminine and clean cut dresses, the last thing you want is to ruin that element that makes these dresses so great with a pair of gross shoes.

Another cute example of wearing sneakers with a sheath dress (she even has a blazer with hers!). It’s just so perfect with nice white sneakers. Nothing crazy, no chunky ones, just simple sneakers!

Also, just to make sure this is out there, feel free to match your sneakers to your dress. If it’s a black dress, black sneakers will totally work. They don’t even have to match perfectly, contrasting colors will work!

Sheath Dress with Boots

I’ll admit, I’m not a massive fan of this outfit because of the tweed, but I love that she’s wearing over the knee boots with this tweed sheath dress. Because these dresses are usually above the knee it makes it really easy to wear high boots with them.

Sheath Dress with Open Toe Heels

Open toe heels are the sexy sister of the heel family, don’t you agree? I mean, heels in general are effortlessly sexy but there’s something about the strappy open toe look that really amps up the look.

These are cute heels with a beaded almost detail around the ankle that matches her necklaces. The open toe heel almost elongates the leg, which is nice because the sheath dress stopping even above the knee doesn’t give that.

I love the retro feel to this one, even though the sheath dress isn’t anything retro itself. It’s all in the hair and shoes! Which, these shoes are super fun with their vintage inspiration. It’s a great example how you can wear a sheath dress differently without actually doing anything different.

Okay, so now that we’ve gone over different shoes that can be worn with a sheath dress, what do you think? Which is your favorite shoe to go with them? Tell me in the comments below! I hope you’re inspired to wear them for more than just work or formally!