Credit: Richard Clark for raising the subject on FB. WOW.
I Would Rather Hear What You Have To Say
21 Comments on "I Would Rather Hear What You Have To Say"
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Credit: Richard Clark for raising the subject on FB. WOW.
Comments are closed.
Keep politics out of it? I’ll do my best:
So I see the sneakers-with-suits look has taken even Washington by storm. I personally can’t stand it, but to each their own. Thankfully, I’ve never seen any POTUS engage in this particular sartorial awfulness. Orthotics do present a gray area here, but surely there are more appropriate examples than what the senior senator from KY is wearing.
I can certainly handle seeing jeans with sport coats or blazers (I dress this way from time to time), and I can certainly see sneakers with that kind of outfit. But I mean, if you’re going to the trouble of tying a tie and buttoning your shirt to the top, why would you then put on sneakers? Just… why?
Orthodox men wear Zerogrand wingtips with black soles. President H.W. Bush wore Rocports with Norman Hilton suits.
Ortho Dr told me to stop wearing hard sole shoes or I would need knee replacement. Usually wear Zerogrands but I wore Allen Edmonds Park Avenue sneakers on TV the other month.
Those white soled sneakers so many wear these days with tailored clothing aren’t even necessarily comfortable. They are not real athletic shoes, designed for ultimate comfort and performance; they are fashion sneakers, worn for style – not comfort. Bad taste in my opinion! That being said, comfort is essential to looking elegant and natural and the sad truth is that there are very few comfortable dress shoes on the market, not because it’s not possible to make a comfortable dress leather shoe, but because modern dress shoes are actually over complicated and over engineered. A comfortable dress shoe is unlined (no “memory foams” and other such nonsense, please!) and made of soft leather. The less structure, the thinner the soles, the less lining and interlining – the better! I can highly recommend Meermin soft calf unlined collection. The most comfortable and elegant loafers you can find! And the price is reasonable at around $200.
A JFK friend advised the President not to wear button-down collars because they appeared “juvenile”.
Sneakers with a suit takes juvenile to a whole other level.
On a different note, the St. Johns ‘Madras’ fragrance arrived yesterday, and it is a delight. Wearing a spritz of it with navy blazer, light gray gaberdine trousers, subtle blue-white ocbd Tattersall shirt, and the Ivy Style necktie for an appointment in half an hour. Dark reddish-brown Lake Forest loafers (Allen Edmonds) on the feet with matching belt. Very comfortable.
Kind Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
We must outlaw the comfort excuse for poorly styled menswear. Our clothes and shoes should be — and can be — as comforting to see as they are to wear.
I’m sure they would prefer to wear a pair of Alden’s, but they are pricey, and, as you may know, times are tough for everybody.
http://www.aldenshoe.com/DrawProducts.aspx?Action=GetDetails&CategoryID=2&ProductID=71&PageID=8
And the blue suits…eww.
Allen Edmonds has gone to putting white soles on their classics and charging the same price for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if lines like Johnston and Murphy are doing the same. There’s a good chance these guys spent way more than those clown shoes were worth. Still, that’s not enough punishment for wearing them in the Oval Office.
The AE dress sneakers are 100-130 less than the same hard sole shoe.
I feel like this is another instance where a tech-bro trend has infiltrated the broader public consciousness. I think it’s mostly laziness, and I think senators and congresspeople should know better—or maybe it’s better to say they should care more. They have advisors to guide them on just about everything they do and say, so why not style?
I am comfortable in my Allen Edmonds, Alden, and Brooks dress shoes, tassel loafers, etc. Today, for example, I’m wearing double soled, shell cordovan bluchers, with a tan gaberdine suit from J. Press. Allowing for the needs of some for orthopedic shoes, and even allowing for rubber soles for those who are on their feet on hard floors all day, there is no excuse for a grown man in a professional job to wear sneakers with a suit.
I just conducted a job interview (via Zoom) with a lawyer in another state who is applying for a job in my office. I didn’t see his feet, but since he was not wearing a suit, blazer, sport coat or even a tie, I assume that if he was wearing shoes, they were sneakers.
*gabardine. H/T to H-U.
Did comfort shoes with dress clothing begin with white and dirty bucks?
Very good question. I’m not sure about calling them “comfort shoes”, and how do we define “dress clothing”? Bucks with a seersucker suit…It likely happens/happened all the time. With a blue “dress” suit, and a photographer in the OO? I doubt it, but, hey, ya never know. I guess it’s dress clothing compared to a hoodie and shorts (Pennsylvania tux).
Since I have not seen this remarked on:
The socks are galling to me in particular. They look like something given to a toddler or infant who is in the process of learning to walk. Except for the Senator from NY, which simply look like something he received from a son/daughter 30 or 40 years ago and was simply the only sock to foot.
I am never sure if the footwear is an excuse of comfort or some desire to relatability to the broader public/desire to appear “with it”.
Charlottesville, you are right. There is no excuse for the sneakers or the socks with a suit.
And, considering your standards, I assume you would not hire someone who made no effort to look professional on the Zoom call.
Thanks, Anonymous. The hiring choice is not exclusively mine to make, but I assure you that the applicant’s casual dress was remarked on by others as well, and did not contribute to a favorable impression. It seems so obvious to me that one would make an effort to look professional when interviewing for a job as a lawyer.
Gabardine with an ‘a’. I am so ashamed.
Kind Regard,
H-U
Thanks H-U. I am the one who is ashamed for my misspelling of “gabardine.”
No worries, as the kinds say, Charlottesville! On a related note, my now teen-aged son and I have frequent conversations in reply to his questions about how so many people dress these days. Among other possible reasons for the slovenly miasma that hangs over so much of human society in the U.S. (and elsewhere), I have posited that many no longer know any better. We long ago threw the baby out with the bathwater in our race to the bottom where reasonably acceptable standards of appearance and behavior are concerned.
Kind Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
I think Giles Hinders struck an accurate observation. With his comment that many of our representatives and senators are elected and always seeking votes, being seen as “with it” is part of their re-election campaign.