Streamlined Shoe Wardrobe

[NAMOR]



Classic Classic Menswear.

 

[recondite]

Black + Khaki.

Looks fine to me and I am wondering how brown would look better here.

But then it would help to see the shoes in context with the balance of the outfit and the conformation of the wearer, no?

For example, if someone has short legs, they might be better to match their shoes to pants especially if their top is much darker such as a navy shirt. Then tan shoes would be an acceptable look and make their legs appear longer than they might otherwise with the above very high contrast looks. If their top was light in color and near the tone of the khaki pants such that their outfit was near monochromatic such as when wearing a tan or pink university stripe OCBD, then black shoes would look fine and not foreshorten their legs as much and they could probably even wear a black belt successfully.

 

[Manton]

so we have a guy recommending gray odd jackets with khaki jackets and black shoes?

Knock yourselves out boys, but please try to stay out of my field of vision.

 

[jrd617]



The shoe I want to wear more than any other is this one:

What Vass last is that? Looks comfy. Could work with a suit too

 

[archibaldleach]



I don't agree with everything recondite writes, but I like that he brings an informed and well-reasoned point of view, and I think the forum -- any forum -- benefits greatly from having guys like him come in and rock the boat, snapping people out of their mental torpor. In this case, he's right on the money in questioning the antipathy so many internet dwellers seem to nurse toward black shoes. It's silly, and many of them dress much the worse for it.

I think he's gone off the reservation here. I do agree that the forum disdain towards black shoes is a bit silly (heck, I'm a fan of black shoes in many cases). The guy gets into trouble and seems way over his head when he goes and says things like brown shoes are some of the ugliest shoes around, wearing monkstraps will make you "that guy," that [in his imaginary world] certain shoes are rejected by polite society and never worn (walking around NYC or Chicago would quickly confirm that is not the case), and wearing white bucks makes one a dilettante. He's certainly entitled to his opinion, but I don't see any logic or reasoning behind it.

Most of his posts in this thread (I cannot speak for other threads) are long, badly structured and tend to ramble. I attempted to respond to one but then ended up feeling like it would be . It's tough to have a meaningful dialogue with that.

 

[jrd617]

^ There's nothing disdainful about black shoes per se. There's just a time and place for them.

 

[Beach Bum]

Great thread. Recondite brings a nice touch to the thread. My shoe-drobe is smaller than many on here and will say I'm so far from getting some of these ridiculously fluffed shoes that SF preaches. Monks included. Can't help but chuckle.

That said I'm more in the middle with black shoes. While I like them a lot, and have been perplexed as to the hatred they incur here, I acknowledge that brown shoes suit many wardrobes better.

I am also convinced that since browns offer way more colors, hence options, as their black counterparts, most of the black shoe haters here have probably over spent and overbought browns to the point they have way too many shoes that they need to rag on black shoes. Not sure if that made sense!

 

[archibaldleach]



^ There's nothing disdainful about black shoes per se. There's just a time and place for them.

Extremely strong preference for brown shoes over black outside of formalwear, funerals and maybe job interviews might be a better way to phrase it. The word "disdain" without qualification may have been a bit much.

 

[RogerP]

I remain perplexed at the black shoe hatred here.

 

[tobiasj]



Black + Khaki.

Absolutely dreadful.

 

[Sonny58]



so we have a guy recommending gray odd jackets with khaki jackets and black shoes?

Knock yourselves out boys, but please try to stay out of my field of vision.

I find recondite's viewpoints as well thought out as any. I'm curious though about wearing a gray odd jacket with a khaki jacket, sounds tricky. Is this demonstrated somewhere?

 

[Ivar]



I think he's gone off the reservation here. I do agree that the forum disdain towards black shoes is a bit silly (heck, I'm a fan of black shoes in many cases). The guy gets into trouble and seems way over his head when he goes and says things like brown shoes are some of the ugliest shoes around, wearing monkstraps will make you "that guy," that [in his imaginary world] certain shoes are rejected by polite society and never worn (walking around NYC or Chicago would quickly confirm that is not the case), and wearing white bucks makes one a dilettante.

I agree. He went a bit off the rails there for a while.

Just to make myself clear: I'm not that huge a fan of black shoes, but I do think they're preferable to brown shoes in:

1. Formal and semi-formal ensembles (duh)
2. Monochromatic ensembles in tints and shades of grey (think Cary Grant in North by Northwest)
3. Ensembles featuring black neckwear.
4. Many SW&D ensembles

In pretty much all other instances, however, I would go brown.

 

[rikod]

-

 

[MyOtherLife]

One rebuttle: shell cordo looks more plasticy in any colour than calf does. That said, I thank Manton for compiling a concise guidline.

 

[dopey]

Of necessity, I have a pair of burgundy calf shoes. I polish them with black meltoninian shoe cream, occasionally black wax and less occasionally cordovan (burgundy) wax. I think this has given them a nice depth of color, but I admit that without this effort, they would look like crap.