SHOES
GOOD SHOES
Its often said that a man’s shoes are his most important item of clothing. They are. An otherwise perfect appearance is destroyed, irreparably and at a stroke. If a man has an ugly pair of shoes on his feet, it would better to go through life barefoot or just wearing socks, citing religious reasons or the theft of one’s luggage. Certainly, wearing a good outfit and good shoes should go together- for not even the best shoes can be guaranteed to rescue a questionable wardrobe.
THE BUDGET FOR SHOES
Some may find it a little extreme, but it is just an exaggerated way of conveying how important shoes are. Anyone who is not in the fortunate position of being able to choose the best for every detail of his apparel should allocate his budget so that a generous chunk of it is earmarked for the purchase of good shoes. If a trainee or student has 600 dollars a year to spend on clothes, for example, he should plan to spend half of it on footwear; he will need at least two pairs, for shoes ought to have at least a day or two to recover after every time they are worn.
But let us go back to the personal budget. A man who thinks it is important to be elegantly or merely well dressed must accept that he will have to dedicate a substantial portion of his income and his leisure time to pursuing this objective. A sense of style will not simply fall into his lap, and vanishingly few of us grow up in an environment in which it is instilled as a matter of course, like everything else. And most of us are not fitted out with the best and most expensive of everything as soon as we learn to walk, so that we embark upon adulthood in possession of a wardrobe full of custom-made suits, custom-made shirts, the best neckties, and above all the best footwear.