Do people notice your shoes ?

[Nobilis Animus]

The only shoes I've received multiple compliments on have been a pair of plain, black captoe oxfords (handmade, and well-polished). All of them unsolicited, and by strangers/people who had no idea about all this esoteric shoe nonsense.

Just throwing that wrench into the works.

 

[RSS]

I just understand that I buy these things for myself to appreciate and enjoy not because some random person on the street gives a **** or notices that I opted for voucalou over crust or asked my maker to use 12 spi on the outsole vs 10 or asked for Bakers components over JR.

Thank you for saying this.

I often notice people's eyes darting down at my feet ...

I notice this whenever I meet a cordwainer ... or go into a quality shoemaker's showroom. I will always recall the first time I caught this action. I was meeting with one of the fellows (I won't repeat his name again) of Cleverley ... in the pre-Cleverley days. For the briefest millisecond his eyes darted downward. He then offered "Peal, I take it." They were.

 

[RSS]

I think people with awareness notice things.

Some decades back I was in a Japanese temple and saw a monk wearing the most beautiful black and white harlequin pattern slippers. Sadly this was before cellphone cameras or I'd be wearing those as slippers around my house. One can only commit to much to memory when afforded a glimpse of only a few seconds.

 

[Duke Santos]

Today, I did an interesting experiment. I took the L down into the Loop and then started walking North on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Stopped into the AE store. Walked around the menswear floor at Neiman Marcus (pretty sure I saw Justin Fields being walked around with a personal shopper). Hit the Omega boutique (tried on a blue dial Aqua Terra and the new Speedy). Looped around Oak Street and Walton Street stopping into Paul Stuart, the Barbour store and the Church's boutique. The entire time, I was focused on seeing if any man was wearing a decent pair of shoes.

All the while, I didn't see a single man (other than store employees) wearing anything other than sneakers. Trainers were the rule of the day with the occasional "nice" white leather sneaker mixed in. Whether anyone noticed my walnut longwing weaves is another matter.

BTW, I learned that the Paul Stuart/C&J partnership may be coming to an end. Something about the ordering process that C&J requires.

 

[dirtbag-delux]

Today, I did an interesting experiment. I took the L down into the Loop and then started walking North on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Stopped into the AE store. Walked around the menswear floor at Neiman Marcus (pretty sure I saw Justin Fields being walked around with a personal shopper). Hit the Omega boutique (tried on a blue dial Aqua Terra and the new Speedy). Looped around Oak Street and Walton Street stopping into Paul Stuart, the Barbour store and the Church's boutique. The entire time, I was focused on seeing if any man was wearing a decent pair of shoes.

All the while, I didn't see a single man (other than store employees) wearing anything other than sneakers. Trainers were the rule of the day with the occasional "nice" white leather sneaker mixed in. Whether anyone noticed my walnut longwing weaves is another matter.

BTW, I learned that the Paul Stuart/C&J partnership may be coming to an end. Something about the ordering process that C&J requires.

I am jealous of your metropolitan day!

Sneakers and trainers reminds me of a Dave Hickey quote, "poor taste is not a lack of taste, it is a taste."

A friend says this in a positive way, "good taste is the patina of the soul."

The plasticity of taste -- lets hope so.

 

[Dorsoduro]

Today, I did an interesting experiment. I took the L down into the Loop and then started walking North on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Stopped into the AE store. Walked around the menswear floor at Neiman Marcus (pretty sure I saw Justin Fields being walked around with a personal shopper). Hit the Omega boutique (tried on a blue dial Aqua Terra and the new Speedy). Looped around Oak Street and Walton Street stopping into Paul Stuart, the Barbour store and the Church's boutique. The entire time, I was focused on seeing if any man was wearing a decent pair of shoes.

All the while, I didn't see a single man (other than store employees) wearing anything other than sneakers. Trainers were the rule of the day with the occasional "nice" white leather sneaker mixed in. Whether anyone noticed my walnut longwing weaves is another matter.

BTW, I learned that the Paul Stuart/C&J partnership may be coming to an end. Something about the ordering process that C&J requires.

Well it’s Chicago -

 

[JohnMRobie]

Today, I did an interesting experiment. I took the L down into the Loop and then started walking North on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Stopped into the AE store. Walked around the menswear floor at Neiman Marcus (pretty sure I saw Justin Fields being walked around with a personal shopper). Hit the Omega boutique (tried on a blue dial Aqua Terra and the new Speedy). Looped around Oak Street and Walton Street stopping into Paul Stuart, the Barbour store and the Church's boutique. The entire time, I was focused on seeing if any man was wearing a decent pair of shoes.

All the while, I didn't see a single man (other than store employees) wearing anything other than sneakers. Trainers were the rule of the day with the occasional "nice" white leather sneaker mixed in. Whether anyone noticed my walnut longwing weaves is another matter.

BTW, I learned that the Paul Stuart/C&J partnership may be coming to an end. Something about the ordering process that C&J requires.

This isn’t surprising in the slightest - It’s a Saturday after all and people were out shopping or wandering around. Hell, I like shoes, I like tailoring. If I’d been out shopping today I would have been wearing my white Common Projects or my GATs with shorts and t-shirt.

 

[RSS]

This isn’t surprising in the slightest - It’s a Saturday after all and people were out shopping or wandering around. Hell, I like shoes, I like tailoring. If I’d been out shopping today I would have been wearing my white Common Projects or my GATs with shorts and t-shirt.

GATs? gasp
shorts? GASP
t-shirt? Someone get the smelling salts. ;-)

__

And that post of mine one back should have been "so much to memory".

 

[pasadena man]

Today, I did an interesting experiment. I took the L down into the Loop and then started walking North on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park. Stopped into the AE store. Walked around the menswear floor at Neiman Marcus (pretty sure I saw Justin Fields being walked around with a personal shopper). Hit the Omega boutique (tried on a blue dial Aqua Terra and the new Speedy). Looped around Oak Street and Walton Street stopping into Paul Stuart, the Barbour store and the Church's boutique. The entire time, I was focused on seeing if any man was wearing a decent pair of shoes.

All the while, I didn't see a single man (other than store employees) wearing anything other than sneakers. Trainers were the rule of the day with the occasional "nice" white leather sneaker mixed in. Whether anyone noticed my walnut longwing weaves is another matter.

BTW, I learned that the Paul Stuart/C&J partnership may be coming to an end. Something about the ordering process that C&J requires.

Interesting and sad, given that the area has been one of the great boulevardier promenades of the Midwest. I last walked that route two years ago, also observing clothes. I recall seeing very few good leather shoes, but a bit more leather than the 99.99% sneakers you encountered. Do you think some of that may be due to a post covid casualization effect?

 

[barutanseijin]

Interesting and sad, given that the area has been one of the great boulevardier promenades of the Midwest. I last walked that route two years ago, also observing clothes. I recall seeing very few good leather shoes, but a bit more leather than the 99.99% sneakers you encountered. Do you think some of that may be due to a post covid casualization effect?

One should also consider the changes in Chicago & American cities in general. As business has moved to the suburban fringes, or Asia or the ether, N Michigan Ave has become a kind of outdoor mall, full of people in from the suburbs to shop or for some contrived mega-event in Millenium Park. They’re even in places like the Billy Goat.

Nevertheless, the mallification of N Michigan Ave is probably better than the alternative you see in places like Detroit & Milwaukee or the midwest’s medium & small cities.

 

[pasadena man]

I often notice people's eyes darting down

While gratifying, it must get tiresome to have to keep telling these women: “Hey, my face is up here!”

 

[basu13]

I firmly believe that the quintessential formal shoe, i.e. the black captoe Oxford gets noticed very frequently, especially in a form/ business setting. If this shoe is well polished and waxed, they do stand out even though they are never in your face. It is one aspect of one's ensemble that truly is the "cherry on the cake", meaning it really pops and stands out while never being brash or loud. I have received several compliments on a well shined and well fitting pair of bespoke captoe Oxfords that I wear in my office.

So yes, people most certainly notice a well made pair of shoes - probably not all of them, but definitely people who are even half- sartorially inclined.