H. E. Pennypacker
Distinguished Member
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- Oct 22, 2020
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I just scrolled through the IG tagged sections for both AE and Alden, and I'm struck by the difference in demographics. Allen Edmonds' customers seem to be mostly based in the US (assuming that their IG fans are representative). Whereas, Alden's fans are mostly based in South Korea and Japan.
It's weird to me that South Korean and Japanese men execute classic American style better than actual Americans (I realize this is the subject of David Marx's book, Amatora, but it still is very striking when you scroll through these tags).
These outfits are so tasteful and well done.
A brown suit with a pair of Alden's plain toe derbies. The color of the shoes contrasts enough with the pant, but also looks harmonious. Very well done. Also how amazing it is to see someone choose plain toe derbies instead of adding more and more details nowadays, like floating medallions, Norwegian welts, fiddleback waists, etc.
Another excellent combination: blue sport coat, grey trousers, light blue shirt, brown foulard tie, dark socks, and Alden's penny loafers. This guy's whole Instagram is very good and he does the "Amatora looks" very well.
Look at this guy. He dressed down his sport coat with Resolute's white denim jeans. And then he sensibly choose a semi-casual shirt and semi-casual shoes (Alden's suede chukkas). I don't know if he did this intentionally, but there's also a nice balance between the tan in his shoes and the tan in his sport coat. The shoes are classic and casual. A very harmonious outfit.
I like how this is simple, but sensible. Many guys don't find themselves in positions where they can easily wear a suit or sport coat nowadays. I think it's always better to at least wear some kind of casual jacket, but if you can't do that because of the weather, this is also fine. It's also the outfit that you'd find on AE's page, but a more classic version: tan chinos, sporty blue shirt, and classic brown derbies. This guy's IG is also very good.
This outfit is a little more fashion-forward: black corduory suit with black loafers. But it shows how far you can stretch modern while still being tasteful and classic. Like the other accounts mentioned above, this guy's IG is very good. He's based in Oslo.
These outfits span nearly every point on the formality spectrum. There's casual (chinos and a button-up shirt) to semi-formal (brown suit). It also spans the very classic (blue sport coat) to modern-classic (black corduroy suit). But you can see how the shoe choices are sensible in terms of formality, color, and material. The shoes work with the entire outfit. I don't understand why you would force dressy shoes into a casual outfit, or why you would choose unusual colors or material when such tasteful, elegant outcomes are possible with more classic choices.
Although they’re wearing Aldens, I wouldn’t consider them as Alden’s centric customers as I referred to in my initial comment. The images you posted are men who most likely appreciate fine clothing and shoes being the subset of their focus which imo isn’t an Alden customer. They probably have a healthy rotation of shoes with a few Aldens sprinkled in. If you look at the Alden thread, you’ll get a realistic perspective of how an actual Alden customer dresses.
All I’m saying is, Alden customers donot necessarily dress better than a Allen Edmonds customer.
Alden has a unique allure worldwide among CM enthusiasts that AE doesn’t. Which would probably only makeup a small percentage of Alden sales imo.