Reader Questions

From Jon

"I have tended to stick to black shoes for the vast majority of my suits with the very occasional pairing of a burgundy pair of shoes with navy. My wife recently bought me a pair of tan shoes. Since they were a gift, I feel I should wear them occasionally, but I can't figure out for the life of me what to pair them with. Do you have any insights?"

As you can see on the feet of the Italian dandy in the photo to the left, light brown shoes work well with light gray. They are equally effective with light blue, tan, cream and the various shades of seersucker, all of which are warm weather colors usually worn in Spring and Summer. I've worn fox suede oxfords with navy flannels in winter, but it's not a combination for the office.

From Jonathon
"My sister has decided that my brother-in-law needs a suit. Who would you recommend in Hong Kong?"

The usual suspects are W. W. Chan, which travels to major cities in the United States, and A-Man Hing Cheong, which does not. A-Man, in the Mandarin Hotel, may be the better of the two but each of them has supporters (I have no personal experience with Chan).

If your brother-in-law has a choice, he's likely to get a better suit if he can order it in Hong Kong and get fitted there. The W. W. Chan model in the U.S. is measure on the first visit and then ship a completed suit. That works perfectly some of the time, but when it doesn't the alterations process can take a while.