The curious case of men's footwear — and the various fashion
statements associated with the sector
I don't know about you but I find snobbery about men's shoes even more disgusting than most other kinds of snobbery. By now, we are all used to the idea that women have a special emotional connect with shoes. They respond to them as though they were children or puppies. They remember where they bought each pair. They make love to the designer labels on the shoes. And they can never have too many of them.
Which,Canada Goose Snow Mantra Parka frankly, is fine with me. I don't understand most things about women, so why should I be expected to understand how they feel about shoes?
Men's shoes, on the other hand, (or foot, for that matter) are a completely different phenomenon. There are various points of divergence between men's shoes and women's. The first is fit.Men's Tremblant Jacket When men wear shoes, they worry about how they fit. Women, however, seem to regard a certain amount of discomfort as part of the price that has to be paid for wearing fashionable shoes.
This distinction manifests itself in one obvious way. Men like to wear bespoke shoes. We like the idea of shoes that are made so that they fit perfectly on our feet. Women, by contrast, don't really bother much with bespoke footwear. Even those very rich women who buy haute couture will be happy enough to get their shoes readymade from a shop like everybody else.
Think about it. The great names of shoe design — Manolo Blahnik or Christian Louboutin, for instance — are famous for the ready-to-wear collections they send to the shops. They don't waste much time on couture. But the great names in men's shoes — John Lobb or Berluti — are all cobblers rather than designers who made their reputation with bespoke shoes. Even those shoe designers who brag about having made ladies' shoes to order, once upon a time — say, the late Salvatore Ferragamo in his Hollywood phase — treat this as history. Ferragamo's descen-dants have no real interest in bespoke footwear and are busy flogging handbags and clothes.
The second great point of divergence between men and women when it comes to shoes is that men obsess about good taste and matching their shoes to their clothes. Women,Canada Goose Banff Parka on the other hand, are quite happy wearing anything. There was a time when women would avoid very high boots claiming that only hookers wore them. But that era has passed: these days, knee-high boots are a fashion statement. And women now wear shoes in all kinds of colours. Even the old rules about matching handbags and shoes are dead.
Men do not have it so easy. Shoe snobbery means all kinds of rules have to be followed. The first is the slip-on versus laces rule. In most codes of dress wear, the rule is that you must wear shoes with laces if you are wearing a tie. A slip-on pair is only okay for casual dressing. Then, there is the question of patent or no patent. The rule is that you can only wear patent leather shoes if you are wearing a dinner jacket.Canada Goose Resolute Parka (In fact, some people argue that you must wear patent leather shoes with evening dress; any other kind of leather is not acceptable.)
The next big dilemma is: when do you go brown?
This is where the English-speaking world differs drastically with the Continent. Everyone agrees that you can't wear brown shoes with black trousers. But what do you wear with a brown or beige suit?
For an Englishman, the answer is clear: you never wear a brown suit. A man in a brown suit is regarded as a cad or a bounder, somebody beyond the pale of society. A beige suit is only acceptable when you are in the Caribbean or somewhere like that. And even then, an Englishman in formal dress would wear black shoes with it.Canada Goose Camp Down
That leaves the blue problem. What does a gentleman wear with a blue suit?
I don't know about you but I find snobbery about men's shoes even more disgusting than most other kinds of snobbery. By now, we are all used to the idea that women have a special emotional connect with shoes. They respond to them as though they were children or puppies. They remember where they bought each pair. They make love to the designer labels on the shoes. And they can never have too many of them.
Which,Canada Goose Snow Mantra Parka frankly, is fine with me. I don't understand most things about women, so why should I be expected to understand how they feel about shoes?
Men's shoes, on the other hand, (or foot, for that matter) are a completely different phenomenon. There are various points of divergence between men's shoes and women's. The first is fit.Men's Tremblant Jacket When men wear shoes, they worry about how they fit. Women, however, seem to regard a certain amount of discomfort as part of the price that has to be paid for wearing fashionable shoes.
This distinction manifests itself in one obvious way. Men like to wear bespoke shoes. We like the idea of shoes that are made so that they fit perfectly on our feet. Women, by contrast, don't really bother much with bespoke footwear. Even those very rich women who buy haute couture will be happy enough to get their shoes readymade from a shop like everybody else.
Think about it. The great names of shoe design — Manolo Blahnik or Christian Louboutin, for instance — are famous for the ready-to-wear collections they send to the shops. They don't waste much time on couture. But the great names in men's shoes — John Lobb or Berluti — are all cobblers rather than designers who made their reputation with bespoke shoes. Even those shoe designers who brag about having made ladies' shoes to order, once upon a time — say, the late Salvatore Ferragamo in his Hollywood phase — treat this as history. Ferragamo's descen-dants have no real interest in bespoke footwear and are busy flogging handbags and clothes.
The second great point of divergence between men and women when it comes to shoes is that men obsess about good taste and matching their shoes to their clothes. Women,Canada Goose Banff Parka on the other hand, are quite happy wearing anything. There was a time when women would avoid very high boots claiming that only hookers wore them. But that era has passed: these days, knee-high boots are a fashion statement. And women now wear shoes in all kinds of colours. Even the old rules about matching handbags and shoes are dead.
Men do not have it so easy. Shoe snobbery means all kinds of rules have to be followed. The first is the slip-on versus laces rule. In most codes of dress wear, the rule is that you must wear shoes with laces if you are wearing a tie. A slip-on pair is only okay for casual dressing. Then, there is the question of patent or no patent. The rule is that you can only wear patent leather shoes if you are wearing a dinner jacket.Canada Goose Resolute Parka (In fact, some people argue that you must wear patent leather shoes with evening dress; any other kind of leather is not acceptable.)
The next big dilemma is: when do you go brown?
This is where the English-speaking world differs drastically with the Continent. Everyone agrees that you can't wear brown shoes with black trousers. But what do you wear with a brown or beige suit?
For an Englishman, the answer is clear: you never wear a brown suit. A man in a brown suit is regarded as a cad or a bounder, somebody beyond the pale of society. A beige suit is only acceptable when you are in the Caribbean or somewhere like that. And even then, an Englishman in formal dress would wear black shoes with it.Canada Goose Camp Down
That leaves the blue problem. What does a gentleman wear with a blue suit?
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