The London Lounge

What is your ideal business shoe? For me it surely must be the Edward Green Southwold or perhaps Rye. I have both and cannot decide which I like more. My office is not a formal place. I usually wear a mid-gray or light navy suit, plain or some conventional pattern. Both of the above models are excellent for all but the most formal look. For summer I like the burnt pine, for winter dark oak or perhaps burgundy.

rodes:

The classic shoe for business is a plain cap-toe five-eyelet lace-up in black calf. Some prefer a cap with a single row of stitching at the seam, others opt for two closely spaced rows of stitching at the seam,
still others like punching along the seam with a border of pinking just above. Any of them are eminently suitable for business wear.

Equally suitable is a half-brogue five-eyelet lace-up in black calf with punching on the cap and seam and a line of pinking just above. The half-brogue is usually more detailed on the upper than its plain
cap-toe counterpart.

Depending upon your business, there are those who prefer a plain cap-toe five-eyelet lace-up or a half-brogue five-eyelet lace-up in black suede or mid-grey suede, both of which are very comfortable to wear and somewhat addictive if you're building a collection of shoes for your wardrobe.

What about full brogues? Well might you ask. Give 'em an outing on the weekends. They're a bit too
country for business intown, but you should have some in your wardrobe. While you're at it, pick up
a pair of Wellies for trapsing across the countryside.

JMB

rodes wrote:What is your ideal business shoe?

Dear Rodes,
although I´m not alien to the concept of "business shoe" I must confess that your question made me think a lot.
I had difficulty deciding on my "ideal business shoe" because in my mind I tend to visualize my dress shoes in terms of their rank in a formality scale (oxford before derby, black before brown, etc.) and not in the business-leisure categories.
When it comes to my "business" (going to the office, corporate meetings, board, lunches, etc.) I always visualize the adequate suit first and then, based on a previous decision, for each suit I have a few pairs of shoes (sometimes only one pair) that IMO go the best with them.
So, I have an ideal business shoe for every suit or jacket/trouser ensemble that I wear to the office. They range from plain black cap toes to dark brown wing tips, including some suede but not a single slip on. Sometimes an ideal pair doubles as ideal for another suit.
I do not own EG Southwolds but they are very pretty, especially in dark burgundy and somewhat versatile. Ryes, uuugggh.....I don´t like.
If you forced me to choose only one pair for "business" amongst all my shoes, as a compromise I think I would pick my gris (dark gray) Phillp II by John Lobb and I would wear them with everything (and tell everybody that you forced me to choose my "ideal business shoes") .