Lusting After: Brown Cap-Toes at Filene's

I don't know much about shoes, relatively speaking, but I know what I like when I see it, and I badly want these shoes.  They have been on the shelf for a month or two now, cruelly tempting me at $130.  I don't even know if the brand is any good.

What I like about these:

• Classic style--this is a laced cap-toe with minimal ornamental stitching.  It's absolutely something I could wear to court.
• Beautiful color--it's halfway between "caramel" and "brown", the two standard colors for men's brown dress shoes.
• Exquisite leather--not too shiny, but not totally matte, with just a little bit of texture.
• Slightly pointed toe--not dramatically, but enough to give the foot a little bit of shape, as opposed to a clunky, two-inch-wide round toe (as found on my current, highly serviceable black cap-toes).

Alas: Notes on Personal Growth

I recently had to take several suit jackets to my tailor because they had developed a roll between the shoulders.  His seamstress informed us that we would not be able to remove any more material to correct future rolls.  We puzzled over why so many had developed the same problem all at once, until the answer came to me.

You see, unfortunately, I had gotten back into upper-body weightlifting (for size, I admit, not strength).  Protein shakes, supersets, freeweights, all that good stuff, and it was working--working so well that my deltoids and trapezii(?) were starting to make the jackets' collars hang funny while simultaneously stretching them across a slightly broader expanse of back.  The result?  Shoulder rolls.

I lack funds to go up a jacket size in all my suits, but I am a glass-half-full sort most of the time, so I reminded myself that one of my New Year's resolutions was to run a 10k race, picked up some new running shoes yesterday, and have dedicated myself to that athletic pursuit.  In fact, I think I hear a break in the rain.  Be back in an hour or so.

In Praise Of: The Skinny Tie

Mad Men's popularity has given some older styles a temporary new lease on life.  In particular, the skinny tie has become appropriate for office-wear (though I would not wear one to court).  The Calvin Klein shown here, with a spread collar, came from Filene's Basement (shocker!) and set me back a worthwhile $20.

Take heed, though.  The skinny tie looks unbalanced--nigh on anemic--next to lapels of the width sold by most major, reasonably priced menswear shops (Jos. A. Bank, for example).  It looks more appropriate on a suit with narrower lapels, such as the one I showed the other day. And you must wear it with a full Windsor (shown here--look how tiny it is!).

I Am Confused By Your Footwear Choices

Dear Suit-Wearing Gentleman on the Metro:

Please forgive my forwardness in pulling out your headphones and violently throwing your copy of today's Express down the length of the train car, but I must ask you a question. 

Why are you wearing New Balance sneakers with your suit and carrying your dress shoes in a bag?

I am aware that women do this.  However, apart from a plethora of biological differences, you are different from women in yet another way: The dress shoes which you have--nay, get!--to wear to work are comfortable.  You do not have to wear three-inch heels which get caught in ventilation grates and escalator steps.  You get to wear hard-soled, fully enclosed shoes made out of a beautiful leather which, with a few wearings, readily conforms to your feet.  You have the privilege of getting to wear these masterpieces of a hundred years' worth of shoe-engineering technology.  Unless your dress shoes are too small, there should be no pinching.

I guess you change shoes in the men's room before going into your office, but what if you ran into your boss on the street?  A client?  A girl or boy you were fixing to call for a second date? 

I'm just saying.  Oh, and sorry about the newspaper--whoops, here's my stop!  Bye!

Secret Weapons: Instant Shoe Shine

The box you see here (about five inches long) contains a large sponge attached to the lid.  The sponge, which feels nearly dry to the touch, contains some sort of shoe-shine-like chemicals.  Look, I don't know exactly how it works, but it really, really works.  These things cost between $5 and $15 and are worth it at any price in that range.  You just sort of grab the lid and work the sponge over the surface of your leather shoes, belt, coat, boots, you name it.  In under a minute, shiny leather will have its shine renewed, and matte leather will take on a healthy, moist look. 

It also helps with small patches of that white residue that appears on leather that has gotten wet and subsequently dried without being moisturized.

When you don't have time for a shoe shine, this will definitely do the trick.

You can find these (brands vary) at Jos. A. Bank, department stores, Filene's, Johnston & Murphy...even CVS sometimes.

Color is Hard: Damn the Torpedos

Apologies for the image noise.  I will start using a proper camera one of these days.  The shirt you see here was on clearance at Paul Frederick for $20.  I will buy any shirt from PF once it hits $20, provided it does not have a contrast collar (i.e. a collar that is not the same pattern and/or color as the rest of the shirt).  It looked a lot less...difficult on the Internet.  When it arrived, I despaired until I thought of my light-gray Hickey suit.

Like a sleek, purple-and-pink jaguar, I stalked the tie racks at my local Filene's Basement. Three visits passed before I spotted the above tie for $20.  The indistinct detail within each square is a little flower made of silver thread.

I like this combination because:

1. The suit gray goes with the tie silver and the shirt white.
2. The tie squares are larger versions of the shirt squares but with the colors inverted.
3. Really, the suit's neutral gray could pull off almost any color of shirt.

I was still apprehensive about wearing it to work, since the office isn't quite that colorful, but I figured, "To hell with it.  They won't fire me for this."  Sure enough, I got a lot of compliments on it.

Color Is Hard: Don't Mix Khaki and Black

I grew up with the understanding that khaki went with just about everything.  As a young man unschooled in paying attention to these things, I accepted this as gospel truth.  Now, I've moderated my position a bit because... 

Khaki does not go with black.

I'm not quite sure what the problem is, but the combination of khaki slacks and black shoes and/or a black shirt just strikes my eye as dissonant.  Maybe it's the fact that khaki does not have any element of black in it (unlike black shoes' best friend, gray wool).  Maybe it's that black shoes suggest Serious Business, while khaki slacks suggest Business Casual.  I'm spinning my wheels trying to think of a situation (other than a dance club) in which I'd wear a black shirt.

I'm not ready to call "Faux Pas" on this combination because so many guys do it.  But we do better for ourselves when we wear black shoes with pants with some black in them and brown shoes with pants with some brown in them.