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Brown in town

Brown in town:

  • Totally acceptable, I love it!

  • Acceptable, but not for business.

  • Yes, but only for shoes.

  • NEVER.


Results are only viewable after voting.

Styleforum Ari

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reagan suit.jpg
brown suit.jpg
brown suit yes.jpeg
brown suit town.jpeg
7ddaf009205b5396005f0d5291103d9a.jpg
 

dreamspace

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Outdated view that is probably confined to City (of London) in this day and age.
 

JJ Katz

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In terms of shoes, that 'rule' died two decades ago. Brown suits are still rare (as opposed to NOT wearing a suit, or tie, etc.)
 
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BXpress

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I guess many have their own set of principles and their own tweaked sense of formality. 2 months ago i wore a rather loud burgundy medallion print madder tie to a classical concert. Absolutely not offensive when considering how 90% of the men there were dressed. And the other 9.5% wore the typical ill fitting suits or blazers. If you had seen what i have seen...The concert was at the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. It was summer ok, but still..

On the brown: in my opinion brown shoes are acceptable for nothing higher than a good restaurant or a sunday stroll, or sunday coffee if you care to suit up.

So no, bringing brown shoes to business seems a bit juvenile imo.

Dark Brown suits though are freaking awesome, best worn with black shoes. So rare and so amazing when made well, i don't think anyone would mind.
 

NoNameNecessary

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I guess many have their own set of principles and their own tweaked sense of formality. 2 months ago i wore a rather loud burgundy medallion print madder tie to a classical concert. Absolutely not offensive when considering how 90% of the men there were dressed. And the other 9.5% wore the typical ill fitting suits or blazers. If you had seen what i have seen...The concert was at the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. It was summer ok, but still..

On the brown: in my opinion brown shoes are acceptable for nothing higher than a good restaurant or a sunday stroll, or sunday coffee if you care to suit up.

So no, bringing brown shoes to business seems a bit juvenile imo.

Dark Brown suits though are freaking awesome, best worn with black shoes. So rare and so amazing when made well, i don't think anyone would mind.
No, black and brown never work, never
 

JJ Katz

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Yes, brown trousers only work with brown shoes including burgundy. Not black blue or any other cold tone color

Can you substantiate this sweeping statement or should we just take your word for it?

I personally find, like BXpress, that very dark browns in tailored clothing, especially if the fabric contains black thread or a pattern with some black/charcoal, work much better with black calfskin than with most other browns. The same goes for a hat (in the rather rare case of one wearing a hat). I am not the first to observe this.
 

BXpress

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Yes, brown trousers only work with brown shoes including burgundy. Not black blue or any other cold tone color

I can understand that there is a certain appeal to having a unicoloured outfit, but how can you even achieve that? Say, you manage to find a pair of brown shoes that are very similar to your suit, it still won't be matching. You shoes will be shiny while the suit will be muted(well, hopefully). That alone means it is near impossible and you will have that odd effect of "same color, different shade". On top of it, the two pieces will be close to each other, which makes it worse. What will work would be a light brown suit with obviously darker brown shoes. I can agree on that. There has to be some degree of contrast imo.

However, in my opinion, it is one of the worst colour faux pas ever to have same colours/different shade close to each other. Image some dark navy trousers with medium blue socks. Ridiculous! Or imagine a light blue shirt with a darker blue pocket square.

Oh and on burgundy shoes with brown suits...my friend i can agree on some things but this....just no. Might as well pair bright red with orange.
 
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The Louche V2

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All of the statements above on shoes with dark brown have my mind racing. I HATE brown + black, but I also agree that often brown + brown is a fail, too. What color shoes are truly the right choice for wear next to a dark brown worsted?
 

pacnyc

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This will likely be a thread where everybody talks at cross-purposes, because what is acceptable in one “town” is not in another, and certainly not in London. ( “In England, you have to be dignified; if you are awake, it is already vulgar,” George Balanchine said. I adore and admire London and hope it never changes. Someone has to set the standard.)
 

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