Can I wear hard sole moccasins for casual business?

[Tsmith08]

So I'm 16 and a sophomore in high school. I got a lot of casual business events this year and over the summer, I'm planning on getting different types of chinos, button ups, and a couple of blazers. I'm struggling with shoes but I really like this pair of moccasins and a pair of boat shoes. I'm wondering if the moccasins are appropriate though. Here the link to the moccasins... http://www.sperrytopsider.com/store...5320302/showDefaultOption/true/productdetails

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm new to all of this.

 

[lee_44106]

Your attitude should be:

I'm 16 so screw you all.

Try what you like and develop your own style

 

[12345Michael54321]

I'm having a hard time imagining a business event where it would be appropriate to wear a pair of moc slippers with a blazer.

It just seems to me, if the footwear would be appropriate, a blazer would be overdoing it. And if a blazer is appropriate, you ought to wear real shoes. Not casual moccasin slippers and preferably not boat shoes. (Although of the two, the boat shoes are much more likely to work than are the moc slippers.)

Me? If I'm attending a casual event where a blazer is appropriate, as likely as not I'll wear a pair of nice loafers.

Then again, I'm not a 16 year old high school sophomore, attending casual business events.

 

[Tsmith08]

What kinda shoes do you suggest then? Any advice would help

 

[Tsmith08]

I like this idea, it makes a lot of sense I mean better to be unique and see what I like

 

[Duke63]

Have you considered penny loafers? They sound like they'd meet your requirements quite well.

 

[GBR]

No.

Forget it.

 

[jerrybrowne]



Have you considered penny loafers? They sound like they'd meet your requirements quite well.

+1. Penny loafers or Suede bucks.

 

[12345Michael54321]



Your attitude should be:

I'm 16 so screw you all.

Try what you like and develop your own style

Perfectly acceptable when getting dressed for various types of social occasions. If the OP explained that he was going to a 21-and-under dance club to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday with her, hey, I'd have no big objection to your suggestion.

But he notes that these will be business events. And while one might be justified in wondering just how significant business events are to a 16 year old, to the extent that the business aspects are of some importance it would seem advisable not to adopt an "I'm 16, so screw you all" attitude.

Indeed, in attending a business-related event, the OP's age may well work against him being taken seriously. Dressing appropriately for the event can help overcome such a bias.

I'm well into middle age. And I regularly attend various business events. Some of them are even fairly casual.

I know that if a 16 year old high school sophomore approached me at one of these events - maybe to find out about a summer internship, or what criteria we use to determine to whom we'll offer a college scholarship - I'd be more likely to treat him seriously and remember him favorably if dressed appropriately for the occasion, than if he used it as an opportunity to experiment with the development of his own unique style. And I'd probably remember him more favorably if he didn't give off a defiant "I'm 16, so screw you all" vibe.

One can debate whether this is fair or just, but it is human nature, and it is the reality of social interaction.

Except, presumably, at casual business events in southern California, where the middle aged businessman in attendance could be wearing board shorts and sporting facial tattoos, having driven to the event in a $200,000 Porsche bearing an "Eat the Rich" bumper sticker. I've long since stopped trying to figure out what constitutes favorable appearance or behavior there, or just generally what constitutes rational thought in that place. I more or less treat it as a pocket universe of its own, like Wonderland or Oz, and accept that the natural laws of such places may have only a nodding acquaintance with the reality I know.