I’m not sure when I started doing this, but I’ve been matching my bag to my shoes for years. Tan bag and shoes? Check. White bag and shoes? Yup. Black bag and shoes? Got that too. I think you’ll have a harder time finding an outfit I’ve worn in which the two don’t match. So imagine my surprise when I recently learned it was a phenomenon making the rounds on TikTok under the term “outfit sandwich.”

Granted, whoever thought of that term deserves some kudos (wish that person was me), but matching your accessory on the top half of your outfit with your shoes on the bottom half to create a visual “sandwich” so to speak is one of the easiest ways to make your look feel both cohesive and intentional. It’s a way to tie both halves together to keep the flow going from top to bottom and just makes everything look well-balanced. Here are a few tips I have for pulling this styling trick off:

• Stick to neutral tones: I do think sticking to neutral colors for your bag and shoes helps keep the whole vibe elevated and not sooo on-the-nose matchy-matchy the way the same idea would look with say, a bright color like red or a bold print like plaid.
• Mix up your textures: Just because you’re matching color, doesn’t mean you need to match texture! Switch it up and play around with different finishes to give your look some dimension. For example, here I’m wearing a leather bag with suede mules, and in the past I’ve worn a croc bag with smooth leather boots.
• Play with shapes: Similar to how you could mix a soft-textured bag with a hard-textured shoe in the same color or vice versa, try replicating that same idea with shapes. If your shoes have hard lines and sharp angles, contrast that with a slouchy bag or something with rounder curves.