Black patent leather shoes

[Fabienne]

If I say: "Black patent leather shoes", you say:

 

[johnnynorman3]

I say, "do you know where I can find a pair at 95% discount?"

 

[STYLESTUDENT]

Unnecessary, unless I plan to attend a Catholic girl's school.

 

[Fabienne]

I say, "do you know where I can find a pair at 95% discount?"

Perhaps: http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws....me=WDVW

 

[chorse123]

I say: Excellent. But preferably in an oxford, rather than a pump. I also say: I'm trying to find a reason to order a pair, and a new tuxedo.

 

[globetrotter]

hmmmmm...... I really should get a pair for the odd times I need them, but I hate the thought of a pair of shoes that I wear 2-4 times a year......

 

[Fabienne]

I always stop and admire black patent leather shoes.  I wonder why they are not worn more often.  Too dressy, I suppose, and a host of other preconceived ideas?

Are they solely for formal occasions? Is it OK on a man attending a wedding who is not the groom?

 

[globetrotter]

they are fine any time you are wearing a tux, and you are not a waiter

 

[chorse123]

Can one wear them in the evening with a dark suit (say black) even if it isn't black tie? And I don't think only wearing them a few times a year should hold you back, Globetrotter. It sets you apart from those who aren't wearing patent leather.

 

[dah328]

I think a pair of highly-polished calf shoes is preferable to the same pair in patent leather.

With regard to weddings, the focus should be on the bride and groom.  As such, I try to dress respectfully while not competing sartorially.  For weddings in different places and times, "respectful dress" can mean different things.

dan

 

[globetrotter]

Can one wear them in the evening with a dark suit (say black) even if it isn't black tie? And I don't think only wearing them a few times a year should hold you back, Globetrotter. It sets you apart from those who aren't wearing patent leather.

it's sort of like getting a couch - before you own a couch you can fit all your stuff in the back of your car. then one day you buy a couch and say "well, to hell with it, I have a couch, if I need to move I need to rent a truck, I might as well get a dinning room table". and that is the end of being a bachlor. I have held down the number of my shoes for years, when I get a pair of patent leather shoes the dam will have burst and I will find myself with a lot of shoes I only wear once or twice a year.

 

[Etruscan]

I find black patent leather slip-ons to be perfect for the smart but informal occasion. As a case in point, I wore my (D&G, very plain) pair to dine with friends in their home on New Year's Eve. Otherwise I wore a dull gold silk shirt, untucked, over a black silk long-sleeved tee shirt and flat-front black wool crepe trousers. Calf shoes (even my dancing pumps with the grosgrain bows) wouldn't have been right with the gold silk, I don't believe, and while my black velvet pumps might have worked visually, they are so analogous to slippers that I make a rule only to wear them in my own home.

As some of the other men were in jackets, none in ties, between the shirt and the shoes I felt appropriate to the occasion while being neither overdressed nor underdressed. And that's not a bad way to end, or begin, a year.

 

[ViroBono]

If I say: "Black patent leather shoes", you say:

Worn only with evening dress in the UK.

 

[Horace]

I always stop and admire black patent leather shoes.  I wonder why they are not worn more often.  Too dressy, I suppose, and a host of other preconceived ideas?

Are they solely for formal occasions?  Is it OK on a man attending a wedding who is not the groom?

I prefer the pump to the lace-up.

Bennies has a few pairs left.

Allen Edmonds makes what looks like a decent one.

There was a debate on here, a while back, and I don't know that it was resolved, but it concerned which shoe was more proper (and the discusison involved tradition, etc): the patent or the black calf (highly polished) -- I was inclined to believe the latter, though I've now read that patent leather (which was literally patented in the early 20th century I believe), has been around for a few hundred years.


Those who wouldn't wear a patent pump with black-tie are the same who woudl hesistate to wear a pink Brooks button-down oxford.

 

[A Harris]

I say, black calf looks so much better... Love those babie's shoes, very funny