"I want to feel like a new man"

[Pompidou]

Ha! With the punched toe cap and hi-gloss finish, they're closer to semi-dress than most boots, when worn under a pair of trousers...

I was aiming more for a utility / workwear look more than anything...

I should get a pair of those. My current dress shoes are ratty looking now, and I remember when I first got them, the back of my ankles were a bloody mess for weeks while they broke in.

 

[Mr Badger]

I should get a pair of those. My current dress shoes are ratty looking now, and I remember when I first got them, the back of my ankles were a bloody mess for weeks while they broke in.

They turn up pretty cheap on Ebay, just look for Corcoran boots, jump boots or paratrooper boots – with a Goodyear welted sole, they're good for years...

Bringing it back on topic...

Once again, although you can still pick up classic and *gulp* sustainable / repairable clothing like these boots for a very reasonable price (heck, they're only around $100 new), quite a number of folks at my place of work have recently spent $150-$250 on a pair of plastic-soled 'mock' combat boots in that really cheap 'barely tanned' leather that just explodes with salt marks when it gets wet...

I did the right thing and took in a can of dubbing, gently explaining that they should treat their designer boots, to stop them getting ruined by the weather... well, I was a boy scout!

 

[randooch]

Thanks for the material, matei! inspirational at the very least. More and more, I feel almost guilty leaving the house looking too, shall we say, relaxed. My favorite line:

Involuntarily, I have thrown back my shoulders, as if to treat the suit with the respect it deserves. In this united fleecedom of today, the reverse is happening: we are slumping in harmony with our shapeless outer garments.

 

[MikeBravo]

I think reality television is the quickest way to start trends. The cast of Jersey Shore are the leaders people follow. What makes a leader - the difference between power and authority - that's a thread in itself. That's a career if anyone has the right answer. So as I was saying - reality television. What we need is a bunch of guys in suits and hats confined to a mansion having tons and tons of sex with beautiful, easy, young women. That's what the people want, and if they think a suit will get it, you'll see suits. Blunt but true. We won't see people getting their inspiration from C-Span any time soon, I think.

If this guy can't do it nobody can

 

[scottyrocks]

. . . and plain plimsoles or basketball boots (no training shoes).

Please pardon my asking, but what are plimsoles? And basketball boots? Training shoes? The last two sound kind of like sneakers, or athletic shoes, to me. What specifically are these three things used for?

 

[Mr Badger]

Please pardon my asking, but what are plimsoles? And basketball boots? Training shoes? The last two sound kind of like sneakers, or athletic shoes, to me. What specifically are these three things used for?

Hey Scotty, lost in translation, I reckon! Plimsoles (aka plimsolls) would be something akin to very simple, golden era-style Converse, PF Flyer or Keds lo-tops. And basketball boots would be the same kinda thing but hi-tops... more of a 'Gene Kelly and Doug Fairbanks play tennis then drink liquor' up to a '1950s JD' kinda vibe than anything truly sporting!

For instance, I had a pair of very simple, undyed canvas lo-top plimmies (a British colloquialism) a coupla years back, and they went very well for spring with a pair of Dockers K1s, a fine stripe knit t-shirt, a gab Hollywood jacket, the hat I'm wearing in my profile pic (a Stetson) and a pair of tortoiseshell Clubmasters...

 

[scottyrocks]

Okay, gotcha.

I remember when plimmies made a comeback. I had lived in them when I was a kid, and was curious to put them back on. Imagine my surprise when it felt like I had a brick strapped to each foot. I could barely walk or stand in them and couldnt wait to get them off. I wish they felt better. Id still like a pair.