There is no telling where the current rush towards color in men's shoes will end up but, curmudgeon that I am, I was conflicted by the display in Edward Green's shop in London earlier this Fall. The two patent leather designs on the bottom shelf struck me as entirely inappropriate for evening, one because it is a blucher and the other a perversion of a shoe meant for day wear. The two pair on the top shelf though are something else. One is a classic pump and nothing wrong with that. The other, the pump with a red bow and red trim, is more interesting. On the one hand I could classify it as another sign of a man who does not know any better but wants to be different (red bow ties come to mind), but then again the shoes themselves look pretty good and though they may not have been seen before I am not aware of any rules against them. Indeed, men have been wearing colored velvet slippers with black tie since the whole thing started.
Regular readers will have heard me rail against color in black tie, with the exceptions being dress sets, socks and pocket squares. And though white tie has not gotten more varied as it has died out, the insistence of Hollywood stylists on untraditional black tie accessories seems to have broken down some sort of barrier. Men are taking on peacock touches formerly reserved for the ladies, and that is how I look at those pumps. If the wearer is a publicity seeking male he might wear them without my blessings but years ago I knew a woman who wore black tie and a top hat around New York in the evenings and she would have looked great in them.
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4 comments:
The Blucher in the evening might be imaginable at the Outdoors Opera Festival in a far-flung country location, but as you rightly said, it is not correct for a proper Black Tie event. The patent pumps with red bow are indeed not wearable for such an event either, but at an evening event that it not strictly Black Tie and where lounge suits are also part of the dress code they might be all right with a more creative Tuxedo. One can always change the bow for a proper Black Tie event.
In days of recession, one wonders who is going to buy-in to most of these. In any event, many men wear blaxk brogues with black tie anyway. If they wanted changes of texture, they could have gone for black kid galosh tps but red suede is absurd! Nicely crafted shoes, though.Bows a little high on the pumps.
The blucher pictured looks perfectly acceptable to me.
The rule against bluchers is, IMO due to the fact that the open lacing generally makes the shoe bulkier.
With a sleek 2-eyelet blucher this is not an issue, especially as the trouser will cover the lacing on such a shoe anyway.
Dear Will,
As the world evolves, (and thus rules and style do too) I have to say that I cannot agree with the sentiment behind this post. I understand where you are coming from, but tradition does not always need to be upheld. That's too boring....Peacockery is necessary or else we would all be uniform and what's fun about that?
While I like what you did here:
http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2010/09/suits-and-socks-installment-xix.html
I feel that the pairing of those bright red socks with black pumps is far more peacock-ish than the red bowtie pumps or the two toned bluchers....just my two cents...
Great blog nonetheless and love the rock-your-socks pics!
-Justin
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