Brown Shoes with Gray suit? - Page 3

One thing to add in response to Demeis' question (and in defence of his mother) - how dark was the nailhead suit? I have a grey nailhead that is a very dark grey with the nailhead being black. I think only a VERY dark brown shoe (say Burnt Oak from Edward Green) would be appropriate with that suit. Several posters have mentioned tone matching, and with brown shoes that becomes an art. I have a number of mid-brown shoes that I wouldn't consider wearing with navy, but some very dark brown and cordovan colors complement it beautifully. I think that a mid to light brown shoe (even lighter than the suit) can work with a mid-grey to light grey, but beyond that you need to get very dark very quick.

I actually like to pair my cognac monks with a dark grey suit, it works quite well, I think. koji

Koji, Fair enough - but I think that it is a bit unhelpful for the 'shoe jedis' among us to make the universal statement that all browns go well with all greys.  Those responses seem to be the majority.  The cheerleading squad is nice, but it can lead someone to stubbornly persist in what may be an error. I am not saying that light brown won't ever work with a dark grey suit.  And depending on yr def of cognac, that can itself be fairly dark.  All I am saying is that there are a number of cases where browns and greys do not complement one another well. To sum up: It's not that brown can't ever work with a grey, even a dark one.  It is that brown can not work as well.  Therein lies the role of one's eye.

My mother says the same. I guess black shoes are the best in a city . Nevertheless, dark can be bearable.

Braces are better.

hello, im new to this forum but my school prom is coming up and i was looking for a suit the other week and i said to the guy that i wanted a grey suit so that i could wear my brown brogues with it and he started saying 'oh you definately cant wear brown and grey' but i could see it in my head and it looked brilliant! and he was trying to force me into buying a new pair of shoes so he could sell me one of his suits. these are the shoes i have already purchased.

Most Greys look great with browns..
You do have to tune them accordingly...
Brown is offering so many shade/colour options compared to black....
Your Mum is from the old conservative guard who wears black shoes with everything...
Black can be sometimes the living proof of a lack of sartorial flair ...

Can't say I like those shoes much, but anyway...

There's nothing wrong with a grey suit and brown shoes, I wear my charcoal pin-stripe with brown shoes all the time, black would look a bit wrong. With much lighter greys black shoes might look good, but brown would still be acceptable.

What happened to the idea of wearing a dinner jacket (read.. a tux) to proms?

Slowly dying. It's only about $50 to rent a tux and it's a once in a lifetime event.

It was a bad idea in the first place. I'd use the opportunity to get my kid a suit that he could use again and again in college.

How would you hope to teach someone the concept of dressing for an occasion if it's all about pragmatics?

Never let sales assistants force you into doing anything. Otherwise you may end up becoming a major contributor to this thread.

In this paragraph, is Flusser referring to bluchers or balmorals? And what is the rule when it comes to wearing a brogue (wingtip) with more casual dress, such as cotton trousers and button down shirts? This is the first I've heard that a brogue can only be worn with a suit. Because I'm wearing my AE McClains today with the aforementioned combo:

I think that was typo and should read "Cap-toe Oxford" and not brogue. Wing-tips, such as your McClains, do not have cap-toes anyway.