Recommendations for men's dress shoes?

[navetsea]

double monkstrap still works with leather jacket & jeans, my only formal shoes is wholecut made by local company, yet I very rarely wear it because it doesn't work with everyday style, so to me monkstrap or double monkstrap is the way to go

 

[Tom71]

Best advice: Go to a well-equipped shoestore, get some advice, try as many styles as possible.

As you can see reading this thread, there’s a huge variety of quality footwear in the dress segment.
I’ve been wearing formal shoes as my (literally) daily footwear for almost 30 years now, and there is little that is an absolute “no” for me these days (that would include split leather or glued soles).

They need to wear comfortable, age decently, and you need to like them enough to wear them for the next 10+ years.

 

[GHT]

They need to wear comfortable, age decently, and you need to like them enough to wear them for the next 10+ years.

I would go along with that sensible advice. Colin Johnson ( https://www.colinjohnsonshoes.com/ ) made my dress shoes, and by dress shoes I define "dress" as the kind of shoe worn with dinner suit and bow tie.
They get worn whenever it's posh frock time and they always garner some comment. I love them.

 

[Aloysius]

I would go along with that sensible advice. Colin Johnson ( https://www.colinjohnsonshoes.com/ ) made my dress shoes, and by dress shoes I define "dress" as the kind of shoe worn with dinner suit and bow tie.
They get worn whenever it's posh frock time and they always garner some comment. I love them.
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While I love co-respondant/spectator shoes, are you wearing them with evening dress?

 

[GHT]

While I love co-respondant/spectator shoes, are you wearing them with evening dress?

Indeed I do, but they are a very comfortable pair of shoes and are perfect for teaming up with casual wear.

 

[Fifty150]

I'd say from a few hundred dollars to around $500 or $600.

It's all about timing. Allen Edmonds is having a sale. The same shoes are offered on their Shoe Bank website. Shoe Bank sells factory seconds, and clearance items. You can use a coupon to get an additional 25% off the sale price.

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I was thinking about getting a nice pair of dress shoes, and wanted some suggestions on what shoes to get that fit my criteria.

Are you dressing in white tie or black tie? Will you be wearing tails, or a tuxedo?

Are you wearing business suits for a work environment? Are you wearing party clothes, like dressing up to go out dancing?




My personal preference is to wear boots. They make boots that look like "dress shoes".

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I am an American. I like cowboy boots. Some of our US Presidents were known to wear cowboy boots. I wear cowboy boots with suits.

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The X hates it that I wear cowboy boots. She is completely embarrassed that I wear cowboy boots with tails or a tux. In her world, it's perfectly normal to dress in white tie and black tie, and nobody wears cowboy boots. In my world, nobody knows what it means when an invitation says "formal", "semi formal", "black tie requested", etc. In my world, everyone has cowboy boots.

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One of our compromises. She buys it, I wear it. She paid for these shoes, so that I have an option . I actually like them. They are a sneaker, but nobody could really tell . Someone would have to take a second look, and look close, to know that I am wearing sneakers with a dinner jacket.

 

[Fifty150]

prices that are more reasonable and not designer prices

These set me back about $40. There are nights which involve a lot of alcohol. Bars. Night clubs. Extremely dirty dance floors. Even filthier bathrooms. A fight could break out. Spilled drinks, urine, vomit, blood...... I am not wearing expensive shoes.

 

[Fifty150]

George Costanza turned his Timberland boots into perfectly passable "dress shoes" by spray-paining them black.

Most of the world does not live by rules of etiquette from 15th century England, We don't set our tables with fine China and silver, have High Tea, or observe any of the rules of dress.


I think we should all be able to wear whatever we want. For a lot of us, what we wear is dictated by budget. A lot of guys in the modern world don't actually own a suit. And most of the guys that I know would not be able to distinguish between a suit, or a sports coat and slacks. How many people actually have clothes for Morning Wear and Evening Wear?


Of course, my opinions are not credible, since I'm actually wearing cowboy boots with a dinner jacket. That's not just a lyric from a Country Western song. I did show up in boots, and ruined the black tie affair.

 

[Monitor]

I think we should all be able to wear whatever we want.

That's the thing!

Because...

For a lot of us, what we wear is dictated by budget.

...and...

And most of the guys that I know would not be able to distinguish between a suit, or a sports coat and slacks.

...implies that we don't really wear what(ever) we want but rather what we have to.

That's my issue with the fashion of today which, for the first time since the time of man began, is actually bad.

And yet the hill that our cheap, ugly, badly made, toxic clothes we had no choice but to buy, is actually exactly what we want, is one that we're willing to die on.