Shoes Are More Important Than You Think

I never gave a ton of thought to shoes. That was because I didn’t own many of them so I only had a few to work with.

Shoes are expensive. And for some of us, it’s hard to find shoes that fit properly. That limits the amount of online purchasing we can do. That’s good for the wallet, but it makes it so that our shoe rotation is rather small.

All things considered, I like not owning many pairs of shoes. If I am dressed casually, I usually wear boat shoes in the spring and summer and brown leather boots in the fall and winter. Business casual calls for loafers or brown lace-ups. Anything more formal than that, like a dark suit, requires my black, cap-toe, oxfords.

I don’t have different shades or materials of the same kind of shoe. My brown shoes don’t perfectly match the brown of my belt.

You guys are aware that my wardrobe is fairly small, especially for a guy who loves clothes, but I get by just fine with only a handful of pairs of shoes.

That being said, I’ve discovered that shoes are the foundation on which an entire outfit is built. And because of that, you need to make sure you have a rotation of shoes that has you covered in every scenario.

Let me explain…

Often, my shoes are the first thing I choose when figuring out what to wear. And that choice has a knock-on effect on the rest of my outfit. But the first choice to make deals with the shoes.

If it’s the summer, I’ll wear my boat shoes, because it’s hot and I’m not wearing socks… but I wouldn’t then wear my wide-brimmed Akubra since I don’t feel that kind of hat works well with boat shoes. So, I’ll wear my Panama hat instead. If I decide that I need to wear my Akubra because it’s going to rain, I’ll swap out my boat shoes for boots. BUT the decision to wear boots is more so because I realized it was going to rain rather than wanting to wear my Akubra.

If I am going into the office, what sport coat I want to wear might enter my mind first. But that’s only because I already know that I am going to be wearing either my brown loafers or brown lace-ups. And if I decide I need to be more formal that day, I’ll go with my black oxfords, but that will change what jacket I’m going to wear. A change of circumstance means that I need to first decide what shoes I am wearing.

Every outfit decision flows from the choice of shoes.

The shoes determine not only what the rest of your outfit looks like, but they determine the formality of an outfit, too.

Let’s say you have two guys in the same navy suit. One guy is wearing a tie… but he is also wearing sneakers. The other guy is wearing NO tie… but he is wearing black oxfords.

Which guy will appear more formal? The guy in the black oxfords! Even though he is not wearing a tie.

It’s the shoes!

The shoes, more than any other item, determine how an outfit is perceived by others.

Don’t let this worry you, though. Like I said, you can have a wonderfully complete wardrobe with only a few pairs of shoes.

Most people need a couple pairs of casual shoes, depending on the weather and the activity. I like boat shoes, but a normal-looking sneaker is fine, too. For when it gets cold, a brown leather boot can be worn either casually or slightly more formally, depending on the boot. If you are looking to stretch your boots a little bit, style-wise, get something like a Chelsea with a rubber sole. You’ll be able to wear them with jeans, but they can be shined up and worn with chinos and a sport coat to the office, if you wanted.

Next up, you need some “nice” shoes to wear to work (if you don’t want to wear your boots) and out to dinner with your wife. Loafers work well here, especially ones in brown suede or burgundy leather. You’ll be able to wear them fairly casually (like with the chinos/sport coat combo from earlier) but you can also wear them with more formal wool trousers, and even with suits like seersucker, tweed, or cotton. You’ll find that your loafers will be the shoes you grab when you’re not quite sure what shoes to wear with an outfit. Unless they are black, I wouldn’t wear them with a dark, worsted suit, though, as the formality of a brown loafer isn’t quite high enough to match the suit.

Anything beyond business casual and you’re good to go with the black oxfords.

So, how many pairs of shoes is that? Three or four? That seems pretty reasonable for the average guy.

When it comes to something like shirts or pants, we can have a mountain of different styles or colors, simply because those garments are fairly inexpensive. I can get a bundle of a half-dozen shirts for the same cost as a decent pair of shoes. That means I don’t need every shirt to work with every outfit, because I have so much choice when it comes to shirts.

Shoes aren’t like that. For most of us, we only have a handful of pairs of shoes, so we need to make sure each pair is as versatile as possible.

So, remember that the shoes you choose will determine what the rest of your outfit looks like. Also, keep in mind that it’s important that each pair of shoes you own is as versatile as possible so they work with a myriad of different outfits.

In my opinion, probably the leanest-yet-most-versatile rotation of footwear (outside niches like running shoes) would be brown leather boots (like a Chelsea or chukka) with a rubber sole, burgundy loafers, and black oxfords.

Those three pairs of shoes will have you covered in almost any scenario I can think of.

So, even though many of us don’t own many pairs of shoes, understand the importance of choosing the right shoe for a particular scenario, since that one choice will determine how the rest of your outfit is perceived.

At the same time, don’t get suckered into thinking that you need tons of shoes in order to be stylish. A few pairs will be just fine, provided they are chosen carefully.