Ok so after reviewing my last year or two's summery outfits, I actually do the white with dark cropped pants less than I thought I did (probably helps that I don't wear cropped pants all that often, and also that a hard drive crash last spring cost me a chunk of my photos so my records are incomplete). Here's most of what I found, with longest pants at the start. #1 is the only one from this season, I wore it earlier this week actually (aside: suuuuuuper high happiness, holy cats!); I suppose those pants are closer to full-length than cropped but I included them anyway. #8-10 start to kinda employ those tips so they also probably don't count, but they are light footwear when probably dark would work "better".
I'm noticing that oftentimes the white footwear is "bookending" a white top, or at the very least a lot of exposed skin (which on me may as well be white), so that's probably a big factor to why I feel like they work well. I think as long as I include enough skin or lightness elsewhere in the outfit, I'm personally just more comfortable with lighter footwear than with black. No need to answer (rest those wrists!), just wanted to share :)
(Of course, feel free to comment ladies! Work continues to be super busy, but I'm hoping I can get some outfits posted up soooooon <3)