The short answer on Tory Burch Thin Flip Flops: pick one anchor piece, keep the palette to two colours, and let the shoes decide how formal the whole thing reads. Proportion does more than colour: volume on top wants something narrow below, and the reverse. Repeat one element, a metal, a texture or a colour, and an outfit looks deliberate. A moulded footbed takes about a week to break in and then lasts years. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is strap placement, footbed and heel height. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Splendid's Fedora Leather Sandal in Oat at $79, and ALOHAS's Vale Patent Brown Leather Sandals at $180. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. A moulded footbed takes about a week to break in and then lasts years. A strap across the widest part of the foot is what stops slipping, not a tighter buckle. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

A flat sandal reads dressier with a longer hem. From the second group, Cole Haan's Women's Go-To Emalia Slide Bow Sandals ($50) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, sandals, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 sandals here from 13 brands, $50 to $475, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Cole Haan's Women's ØriginalGrand Peyton Flatform Sandals at $50 is the low-risk way in, and M.M.LaFleur's Sarah Flint Perfect Block Sandal 60 :: Sand Calf at $475 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Tory Burch Thin Flip Flops without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: the piece you reach for on a rushed morning is the one that was worth the money.