colors that actually do go better w/ black shoes than brown.

[spectre]

Tough to pull off brown shoes with a navy suit, white shirt and navy (plain or small pattern) tie.

 

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by spectre

Tough to pull off brown shoes with a navy suit, white shirt and navy (plain or small pattern) tie.
Are you serious? I much prefer brown shoes over black ones with navy suits/pants.

 

[Dragon]

I never understood the brown shoes only look good thing anyway. Black shoes are classic and go with just about anything, except some very casual stuff.

 

[ComboOrgan]

I have a brown suit with which I prefer black shoes. It's about the only situation in which I mix black and brown.
The rest of the colors have to be very muted, so I go with black belt, black necktie, and white shirt/square.

 

[Gus]

I have a trim cut dark blue suit that I wear with black double monk Lobbs (Williams) along with a white shirt. It is my wife's favorite look on me. A really dark blue looks best with black shoes IMO. I also like black shoes with gray pants and a blue blazer. When worn properly it doesn't have to make you look like a security guard!

 

[Dewey]

brown shoes require color coordination. even dark brown shoes are a color. they are not neutral. to make brown shoes work with a navy outfit, it has to be the right brown. an orange-ish brown like cognac is easy with a navy suit, because orange and navy love each other, but i would only do that in bright light (say to be outdoors on a sunny day).

i only wear black shoes at night. and there are a bunch of earth toned clothes that i only wear at day.

you need brown and black shoes in your rotation, and while there are surely cases where black works best, it may be only because your palette of browns is not wide enough, or because your use & selection of browns is clumsy.

black in the day is just a placeholder. it projects austerity and, in lots of environments, authority. it is puritan, it is military, it is conformist, it is a lot of things that are not very artistic or aesthetically warm and inviting.

the irony is that it is known as color of people who work in the arts today (in the US at least). some of this, i think, is wanting to be slim and black is slimming. but also it is wanting to complement or balance out the artsy-fartsy creativeness of jobs in the arts. "professional" and "arts" should not go together easily, and a self-denying military outfit of black shoes, black suit (or black jeans and black leather jacket) keeps the arts professional from looking too flakey.

to make a long story short, of course black goes with everything. but i doubt there exists a suit that cannot look more impressive, sartorially, with just the right brown shoes working with just the right shirt, tie, socks, etc.

... i don't mean this as a challenge. there can be many good reasons for wearing black in the day, or as much as you like, in my opinion. the thing i object to is the idea that some colors cannot work or do not work well with brown. brown is too broad a category of colors for such a statement to make sense. and for sure, we can't all have the whole rainbow of brown shoes in our closet.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by Dewey

brown shoes require color coordination. even dark brown shoes are a color. they are not neutral. to make brown shoes work with a navy outfit, it has to be the right brown. an orange-ish brown like cognac is easy with a navy suit, because orange and navy love each other, but i would only do that in bright light (say to be outdoors on a sunny day).

i only wear black shoes at night. and there are a bunch of earth toned clothes that i only wear at day.

you need brown and black shoes in your rotation, and while there are surely cases where black works best, it may be only because your palette of browns is not wide enough, or because your use & selection of browns is clumsy.

black in the day is just a placeholder. it projects austerity and, in lots of environments, authority. it is puritan, it is military, it is conformist, it is a lot of things that are not very artistic or aesthetically warm and inviting.

the irony is that it is known as color of people who work in the arts today (in the US at least). some of this, i think, is wanting to be slim and black is slimming. but also it is wanting to complement or balance out the artsy-fartsy creativeness of jobs in the arts. "professional" and "arts" should not go together easily, and a self-denying military outfit of black shoes, black suit (or black jeans and black leather jacket) keeps the arts professional from looking too flakey.

to make a long story short, of course black goes with everything. but i doubt there exists a suit that cannot look more impressive, sartorially, with just the right brown shoes working with just the right shirt, tie, socks, etc.

... i don't mean this as a challenge. there can be many good reasons for wearing black in the day, or as much as you like, in my opinion. the thing i object to is the idea that some colors cannot work or do not work well with brown. brown is too broad a category of colors for such a statement to make sense. and for sure, we can't all have the whole rainbow of brown shoes in our closet.

well said

 

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by Dewey

brown shoes require color coordination. even dark brown shoes are a color. they are not neutral. to make brown shoes work with a navy outfit, it has to be the right brown. an orange-ish brown like cognac is easy with a navy suit, because orange and navy love each other, but i would only do that in bright light (say to be outdoors on a sunny day).

i only wear black shoes at night. and there are a bunch of earth toned clothes that i only wear at day.

you need brown and black shoes in your rotation, and while there are surely cases where black works best, it may be only because your palette of browns is not wide enough, or because your use & selection of browns is clumsy.

black in the day is just a placeholder. it projects austerity and, in lots of environments, authority. it is puritan, it is military, it is conformist, it is a lot of things that are not very artistic or aesthetically warm and inviting.

the irony is that it is known as color of people who work in the arts today (in the US at least). some of this, i think, is wanting to be slim and black is slimming. but also it is wanting to complement or balance out the artsy-fartsy creativeness of jobs in the arts. "professional" and "arts" should not go together easily, and a self-denying military outfit of black shoes, black suit (or black jeans and black leather jacket) keeps the arts professional from looking too flakey.

to make a long story short, of course black goes with everything. but i doubt there exists a suit that cannot look more impressive, sartorially, with just the right brown shoes working with just the right shirt, tie, socks, etc.

... i don't mean this as a challenge. there can be many good reasons for wearing black in the day, or as much as you like, in my opinion. the thing i object to is the idea that some colors cannot work or do not work well with brown. brown is too broad a category of colors for such a statement to make sense. and for sure, we can't all have the whole rainbow of brown shoes in our closet.

Well, I was with you until you described black as a "placeholder" and stated that no suit could not be made to look more impressive with the right brown shoe. I imagine almost any suit can look good with the right shade of brown shoe, the right shirt, tie, socks, etc., but more impressive? I really don't understand why a love of brown shoes a lack of appreciation of black.

 

[Dewey]

Originally Posted by reubencahn

Well, I was with you until you described black as a "placeholder" and stated that no suit could not be made to look more impressive with the right brown shoe. I imagine almost any suit can look good with the right shade of brown shoe, the right shirt, tie, socks, etc., but more impressive?
good point. "impressive" is not a good word choice. by that i think i meant "impressive" if you are going out to be with people who are impressed by just the right brown. and that would be a dumb thing to say. i'm sorry i said that. the truth is, by my own logic there, it is often more "impressive" to wear black since the vast majority of people associate black shoes with people who dress to impress - motorcycle cops, for example. by "placeholder" i mean that black can fill many voids in an outfit. white can be the same way. it makes a good default when you are not sure what to do with something. loud jacket, perfect shirt, stumped for the tie? wear a black knitted one. perfect jacket tie combo, stumped on the shirt? wear white. etc. it is neutral. it is glue. it will fill a hole.

 

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by Dewey

and for sure, we can't all have the whole rainbow of brown shoes in our closet.

Only aportnoy can.

 

[kidkim2]

It seems to me that a few color combinations (e.g., red-on-black/grey glen plaid) require black shoes. In fact, the British Army notwithstanding, I'm hardly ever comfortable with red-***-brown in any of its permutations.

Pink and brown, too, seem a bit of a stretch.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by Ringo

Are you serious? I much prefer brown shoes over black ones with navy suits/pants.

your avatar freaked me out for a second. I thought i had a bug on my screen.

 

[GQgeek]

I find myself reservign my black shoes for rainy days when I don't want to wear my nice(r) shoes. Black shoes are better at taking a beating. My canali monks were fairly well ruined last winter but the damage to the leather doesn't show nearly as much as it would on a lighter colored shoe. Needless to say i will never submit my EGs or santonis to the (unintended) torture i put the canalis through last year. I prefer brown with just about everything. Hell, I even prefer olive in a lot of cases. My olive antiques are getting a lot more wear than I originally thought they would.

 

[dagenham]

Originally Posted by Dewey

i only wear black shoes at night. and there are a bunch of earth toned clothes that i only wear at day.

+1. exactly the point i was going to make. i only wear black shoes at night unless the suit i am wearing calls for black (i.e. black undertones in the fabric).

 

[raphael]

I prefer black shoes with gray suits unless the suit is charcoal or a very dark pinstripe pattern, in which case dark brown shoes are ok (not oxblood - those only go with navy). Light brown shoes only seem to go well with very light-colored suits. All IMO, of course.