Australian Members



Oli2012 said:

Questions guys:
1) I've been told that belts should always match your shoes - but what do you do if you have an odd coloured shoe (eg an ox blood or burgundy) and can't find a belt to match?
2) in regards to trousers - should they be cuffed? What is a good trouser height for suit pants which is both contemporary but appropriate?

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1. If it's close but not exact, no one will notice. In fact no one will really notice anyway until you head to an SF meet up... Some shoe makers, like AE, sell belts to match their shoes exactly - might be worth checking you are paranoid.

2. SF really needs a "can of worms" emoticon.

The only correct answer to this question is "personal preference". I recommend looking at some photos of breaks/cuffs then taking one you like to your tailor.

Speaking of AEs, new boots on today (raising my middle finger to the hot weather...). Nothing like that "new leather" smell that follows you around when you put on a new pair of shoes...



Oli2012 said:

Jason - so do you try and have a belt for each pair or just avoid extremes? Eg a black belt with a sand brogue?

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I pretty much have a belt for each colour but I don't think it's necessary i.e I have multiple black shoes but only 1 belt. I don't have a huge shoe collection thiough prob 10 pair of dress/boots, so someone like Gerry or JM can probably answer that better than me. I don't think you need a sand belt for sand shoes though. A more casual shoe like that, you could get away with a fabric belt in a contrasting colour like navy or something, like a woven cotton belt if you know what I mean. I guess what I'm saying is don't get stuck in to thinking you need a belt to match every one of your shoes.

Charlie's Wardrobe said:

I pretty much have a belt for each colour but I don't think it's necessary i.e I have multiple black shoes but only 1 belt. I don't have a huge shoe collection thiough prob 10 pair of dress/boots, so someone like Gerry or JM can probably answer that better than me. I don't think you need a sand belt for sand shoes though. A more casual shoe like that, you could get away with a fabric belt in a contrasting colour like navy or something, like a woven cotton belt if you know what I mean. I guess what I'm saying is don't get stuck in to thinking you need a belt to match every one of your shoes.

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I aim to stay in the ballpark rather than matching exactly. I have the following:

1 black belt (for black shoes)
1 dark brown belt (for dark brown and burgundy shoes)
1 chestnut belt (for chestnut, mid-brown and saddle shell shoes)
1 mid brown suede belt (for all my brown suede shoes - I think the texture matters a little more here anyway)

1 woven reversible dark brown suede/navy cotton belt (I use the dark brown side casually with my dark brown chukkas and the navy side with my grey suede boots and blue suede sneakers)

1 dark brown wider belt and 1 black wider belt for jeans.

I find this to be very versatile and all of them get used. You can see the shoes I match them with here.



Oli2012 said:

Questions guys:
1) I've been told that belts should always match your shoes - but what do you do if you have an odd coloured shoe (eg an ox blood or burgundy) and can't find a belt to match?
2) in regards to trousers - should they be cuffed? What is a good trouser height for suit pants which is both contemporary but appropriate?

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Charlie's Wardrobe said:

1) don't worry about matching them, it's near impossible on most odd coloured shoes. I have a pair of burgundy carmina and wear them with a dark brown belt that has a reddy kind of tinge to it, looks fine. Once every 6 months I give the belt a coat of burgundy polish.
2) Whatever you like really. I prefer them cuffed if possible and try to buy un-finished trousers to accomodate it. But it's not the end of the world if they aren't.

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With regard to belts and matching with shoes, I agree with CW. I think that I may have posted something about this a week or two back, but despite having lots of shoes in black, brown, chestnut, beechnut, chocolate brown, burgundy, chilli, tan and so on, I only have a few leather belts - one black calf leather belt, one mid-brown calf leather belt, and one chocolate brown suede belt.

I've been thinking of a lighter brown belt, in more of a chestnut colour, for some years now but somehow I've just not found one that I liked or could be bothered buying at the time.

Given that I wear a jacket pretty much all the time that I step outside the office, it's not something that most people see in any case, so I'm not too bothered about matching colours/shades and, as others have said, I don't think that it pays to be too "matchy matchy" anyway.

With regard to trouser rise, I'm not able to give measurements at the moment (as I would get some very peculiar looks from colleagues!), but I like trousers that come up to about an inch/2.5cm below my navel or even 0.5cm higher, which is probably higher than is the trend at present. I think that, in part, the best rise for you depends upon your build - are you skinny, or are you tall, or is your upper body longer than your lower body and so on.

Oli2012 said:

Questions guys:
1) I've been told that belts should always match your shoes - but what do you do if you have an odd coloured shoe (eg an ox blood or burgundy) and can't find a belt to match?
2) in regards to trousers - should they be cuffed? What is a good trouser height for suit pants which is both contemporary but appropriate?

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1) You want to be roughly right rather than totally mismatched. If in doubt go a shade darker on the belt than the shoe to draw the eye down to the shoe (shoes are far more interesting than a belt/crotch/waist).

Ive got too many belts but you need a black for black shoes. Thats easy. Brown is the tricky one. Ive got a dark brown, a mid brown and natural tan (that im trying to age). Ive also got a "snuff suede" for my suede shoes. Again they dont match perfectly but the material is similar.

Ive also got fabric D-ring belts with colour that I wear casually with shorts/coloured loafers

2) There's no "should" all personal preference. So my preference has played out... 80% of my pants are cuffed (even my jeans and chinos I roll) and then i have 2 suits that I dont have cuffs. I generally find that after wearing cuffs my pants feel unfinished without them. Some say shorter guys shouldnt cuff but then people like MostExerent pull it off and he is short and looks great.

I think it also depends on your shoe/sock situation and how much break you like on your pants. I noticed that as my collection of shoes got "nicer" my pants came higher to a point of now just breaking with about 1-1.5inch off the bottom of my heel and cuffed.

Gentlemen, yes or no?

Speaking of shipping delays, I bought some skivies from the buying and sellers' forum. It was posted 8 weeks ago from Canada, via 'ground post'.

Considering they'll never be flown anywhere, I don't have much faith that I will ever see them.



Petepan said:

Gentlemen, yes or no?

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Personally, I'd say no.

Classic style, but ruined by the needless, "change for change's sake" trick of putting the minutes on the outside of the dial and the hours on the inside.

I'd rather get a Stowa or Archimede pilot's watch (or, if you've got more cash, an IWC Mark XVI).

Petepan said:

Gentlemen, yes or no?

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no from me

Get this one:

http://www.iwc.com/en/collection/portofino/IW3565/

No bullshit. Stylish and elegant. Fxh kind of watch.

It will be my next watch. Once DB gets his act together and we pull another heist at Rob's house.

Yeah like the Portofino's and the Portuguese are beautiful too. But I like owning a house even more, so it'll be a while before I ever fork out for one.

I don't know nuttin' about watches, but those Stowas are beautiful. Get one of those.

or even NOMOS. they make nice watched. But IWC has been on my want list for 5 years. Can't afford it

Not sure about home ownership. Should I invest in real estate or is the bubble going to burst?

Petepan said:

Gentlemen, yes or no?

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No from me; the metal studs on the strap just don't feel 'right'. Personally, of course.

Petepan, go hard and blow all your money before the recession hits and get an IWC. You'll love it and have it forever. Can't say the same for cash - it disappears before you even get to see it these days!