Shoes with white, or off white, linen suit

[arkirshner]

Gentlemen:

In my house, when the Christmas lights come down it is time to begin to think about summer. What shoes do you wear, or would wear, with a white, or off white, linen suit?

[couch]

Perhaps white or dirty bucks, in a last and style more elegant or casual depending on the style of the suit, the locale, and the occasion (bluchers, punched-cap bals, wingtips etc.:



Tan or chestnut bals ditto:



and of course these LL limited editions from G&G:







If not garishly cut, tan or brown spectators with natural linen or canvas inserts would also comport well if the insert colors don't clash with the suit cloth. Here from Edward Green:



Allen Edmonds Strawfut is another example, but a bit heavy in the heel for my taste for summer):

.

For more casual suits, you might see all- or mostly linen shoes out there, but apart from finding decent styling, it would probably better not to wear too much cloth texture below the suit, or you'd risk looking like you were wearing footed PJs. Too matchy-matchy.

Finally, here are Will's thoughts on the subject from ASW. If you're the sort who ever wears slip-ons with a suit, Will thinks summer's the time to do it. With natural or off-white linen trousers and a navy jacket, one might look at norwegian moccasins in various leathers, even as dark as #8 shell cordovan, or of course boat shoes, for casual occasions. But that's not a suit . . . .

[rogiercreemers]

One could also consider desert boots in many shades of suede.

[alden]

The G&G limited editions were made expressly for the purpose...to be worn with light colored linen suits.

C&J also make a lovely selection of unlined chukka boots and shoes in suede with either crepe or rubber soles. They are often available in appropriate colors.

And light brown or chestnut shoes work very well with linens.

Cheers

[hectorm]

What shoes do you wear, or would wear, with a white, or off white, linen suit?

Couch has done a very good job covering most possibilities. I agree for the most part.
Nevertheless a word of caution against spectators shoes particularly if they are brogues and wing tips. They could work (barely) with a tailored and padded double breasted suit in heavier linen, but they would be too much down there for a more informal lighter linen suit. If you like two toned shoes, slim cap toes with no decoration would be preferable.
In my case I have simplified the options for my only but versatile single breasted off-white linen suit: when I wear it with a white shirt and a tie, I wear tan leather oxfords. When I wear it with a polo shirt, I wear tan leather or suede slip-ons without socks.

[NJS]

Well, Hector, this is an image which I have always liked: Clive Brook (with Mary Carlisle) in a still from a Love in Exile (1936):



NJS

[hectorm]

Nicholas, I know you love those two-tones and you might well be one of the very few that 75 years later can pull that look as authentic.
Maybe when I´m your age I will do it too

[NJS]

Nicholas, I know you love those two-tones and you might well be one of the very few that 75 years later can pull that look as authentic.
Maybe when I´m your age I will do it too

Hector - Point taken!! After all, Clive Brook's daughter died last year at just over 90 years old! Moreover, the temperature and sunshine here are also factors in my choice and, in Europe, I should probably favour white/off-white nubucks.

However, co-respondents / spectators do seem to have had some recent revival, as couch's post suggests.

NJS

[alden]

NJS

Great picture. I really wish men had the testicular fortitude to dress like that again. I do.

As regards the spectator: when worn in the proper way, in the right season, in the right context and with the right clothes, the spectator is alive and well in Europe. I wear mine and get nothing but smiles from the fair sex. (I don't pay much attention to the other reactions mind you. )

Spectators are a critical dress component. If you wear them well they sing, if you don't they croak.

Cheers

[NJS]

Michael, exactly. Moreover, there is nothing in Brook's dress that, apart from its excellence, would scream 'period costume', which seems to be a major concern these days for those who might otherwise dress well. The suit could be replicated now in cut and style, without raising an eyebrow and so could the shoes. The cojones to wear it all are either there or they are not!

I sometimes think it a pity that the most famous (and somewhat predictable) screen icons of the 'Golden Era' (if I dare call it that) have eclipsed those who, actually, also possessed elegance and presence in an extraordinary degree. Brook is one of these nearly forgotten ones (and so are Herbert Marshall and Reggie Gardiner). In fact, Brook was a leading light in the 'British Raj' in Hollywood and took many leading roles in the 1920s and 1930s and was quite equal, in box office terms, to James Mason and Ronald Colman (whose voice his rivalled). However, there was a spate of kidnapping of film stars' children and the Brook family returned to Britain before WWII (missing out on roles in the great films made in the 1940s) where, fortunes made, they continued to make films and appear on the stage (on which they had begun). I had some contact with Brook's grandson; with a view, maybe, to writing something about him but, alas! - just as few men now dress as he did, few, apparently, wanted to know about him. For those that do, there is Shanghai Express, in which he starred opposite Marlene; as well as the earliest 'talkie' impersonations of Sherlock Holmes; whom he invested with the tweedy character, which seems to have become part of the essential, public perception of Holmes; carried forward by Basil Rathbone. Brook also starred in one of the earliest 'gangster' movies: Underworld, which is interesting to see, as well as starring in the critically acclaimed (but box office failure) Cavalcade, which was, undoubtedly a template for the 1970s' tv series Upstairs Downstairs and the more recent Downton Abbey. Internet image searches for Clive Brook also produce a certain amount of good material.
NJS

[couch]

NJS, I'm quite sure it was simply the effects of too much dancing on the veranda that made you supply Carousel when you meant Cavalcade, a movie I've always been fond of. Here's the aforementioned Clive Brook with Diana Wynyard from the film:

[NJS]

Couch - I woke up with a start in the night, realizing the mistake! However, I am relieved that I have mentioned Cavalcade before...

NJS

[alden]

the 'Golden Era' (if I dare call it that) have eclipsed those who, actually, also possessed elegance and presence in an extraordinary degree.

NJS

Golden Era or not, it will be studied as one of the richest periods in our piddling history when we are dust. I think the period between the two wars will be considered and studied the way we study the Renaissance in a few hundred years.

And there is something special about that time and people. There was, for lack of better words, a generalized charisma. Even the most common people had it. And it had little to do with their clothes, though we see it in their dress. There was an audacious joy, a carefree kind of daring that disastrous war and cruel economy either brought into being or could not quell. Those of us who grew up so close to that time and were raised by its citizens, our grandparents, saw it in their gestures and their class. They had something special,something that has been replaced by the institutionally tawdry.

So pull out your specs and white linen suits, and give them a wear!

Cheers

[NJS]

Michael,
'Institutionally tawdry' is a perfect description for much in our age. I too can remember the type of people whom you describe and (stripped of the poem's revolutionary zeal), they make me think of these lines from Yeats:

.."Yet they were of a different kind,
The names that stilled your childish play..."

NJS

[Luca]

...there is nothing in Brook's dress that, apart from its excellence, would scream 'period costume', which seems to be a major concern these days for those who might otherwise dress well....

I, for one, would gladly welcome as many people a spossible adorning our drab populace thus, regardless of whether it might be regarded askance as "costume". Better "costume" than rock bottom nothingness.

A comparable 'fashion' currently in the 'cooler' London milieus is for bars styled as 30s speakeasies. Contrived? Absolutely. But in fact also exceedingly superior to almost every other watering hole that preceded them for the past 2years. Lovingly crafted cocktails with some provenance (vs. some sticky nasty concotion dreamed up by a talentless barman), great music (vs. ubiquitous drum and bass / electronica), the chance that some of the cleints won't be dressed like 1990s American juvenile delinquents or agricultural albourers and suggestive surroundings. What's not to like? Un peu de joie de vivre, alors!