Ask A Question, Get An Answer... - Post All Quick Questions Here - Page 1237

You could wear them with most anything from jeans, up through chinos and cords, all the way to wool trousers w/sportcoat.

I'm not one who holds fast to the rule about not wearing loafers with suits, although the loafers in question don't strike me as being a particularly good pairing with most suits.
Well, now you've been told that you can wear them with jeans, and that they're not too formal looking.

Penny loafers and jeans is a very traditional combination. Not everybody cares for it, and presumably the person who told you your loafers were too formal to wear with jeans doesn't care for it. But it's been a widely accepted pairing for 60+ years now.
You could opt not to wear socks with them. (Not my favorite look, but I'm not terribly offended by it during the warm weather months.) Plenty of men opt for solid color socks. (JFK often wore them this way.) I not infrequently wear mine with argyles. (The picture, below, shows James Dean wearing argyle socks with his penny loafers..)



--
Michael

Do Allen Edmunds shoes ever go on sale? I've never owned nice shoes. Am looking at a pair of New Orleans for $345 - Can wait if they or their retailers discount them periodically. Please advise - Thanks

I was mulling over getting this grey tie to wear with a grey suit (prob. mid-grey worsted, but also have dark grey flannel) and a white shirt.  Would this be the very stylish and modern look I have in my mind's eye, or a dull disaster?

Dull^^^

jeans. i think they are ok...

No offense taken. These are Allen Edmunds loafers and they do look better in person. That said, I have a hard time with loafers... can never seem to make them work for me.

 

Thanks for replying, though! -- that goes for everyone. 

 

EDIT:

 

Also... does everyone agree that these are ugly? Not that your word is law (you're not the Judge Dredd of fashion!), but I do take what most people here say somewhat seriously as most of you have a great sense of style.

 

Thanks!

They're not the best looking penny loafers I've ever seen, but they're far from ugly.

Agreed. I wouldn't pick them, but they aren't terrible, certainly not bad enough to get rid of.

And yes, you could definitely wear them with jeans.

Alden beefroll loafers are nicer, even the RL ones. I think the slight squareness of the toe makes them look tacky.

+1.

Definitely. These wouldn't be my choice. But they aren't "burn them in the streets" bad either, unlike many of the shoes posted here recently...

I agree. But just because Aldens are nicer, doesn't mean that these loafers are terrible. I'd say the shoes in question look okay (for penny loafers - a shoe type for which, admittedly, some people have a blanket dislike). Not great, not awful.
While many types of shoes do, indeed, tend to look tacky with overly square toes, penny loafers strike me as something of an exception to this rule. Consequently, even with the square toes, the shoes look okay. Again, I don't find them to be remarkably attractive (and, just for the record, I'm a big fan of penny loafers), but they look more than acceptable enough that if I already owned them, I wouldn't hesitate to wear them.

What? Like I'm the only one here who sometimes wears a shirt or a tie which is simply okay looking? Sure, it'd be nice, in some ideal sense, if every article of clothing we wore, without exception, looked great. But in the real world, perhaps due to budgetary constraints, or changing tastes, or whatever, most of us do sometimes wear items which we deem to look merely acceptable. Not outright ugly, mind you. But far from great.

Shun the non-believers.

I don't understand the notion of wearing something just because it isn't terrible. If there are better options, go with the better option. Why torture yourself?

I may already own the "non-terrible" item. Maybe I bought it at a time when my tastes were different from what they currently are. Maybe I bought it because it was priced really low, and I convinced myself that it would suffice. Maybe I bought it via the Internet and didn't realize all of its shortcomings from the picture/description. Maybe it was a gift. Whatever.

My clothing budget being somewhat less than unlimited, if I already own an item, and it's generally acceptable, I may be reluctant to go out and spend money on a superior replacement item. At least, I may wait a while before replacing it, in the interim spending my money on more immediate wardrobe (and other) needs.
I don't feel tortured at having to wear a clothing item which is simply "adequate." Frankly, living in less than a great house is not torture for me, either. And while I like my new car, I wouldn't call it a great automobile, in some "money is no object" sense. For that matter, that I possess a merely acceptable physique and adequate hair, does not torture me.

I can respect the idea of greatness, but (with a nod to Voltaire) I do not permit perfect to be the enemy of good.