The other day, I visited the VW Phaeton manufacturing plant in Dresden, Germany. The facility is absolutely beautiful and the cars they assemble there are the VW Phaeton as well as the Bentley Flying Spur. The workmanship of these cars is top notch and they really spent a lot of money to have everything look first class. At the same time, the people they employ wore those cheap square toed shoes that just scream amateur and overall, it made their product look less sophisticated.

The same is true for you. People may think less highly of you simply because you wear ugly shoes. Therefore I created a video about the 4 Biggest Men’s Dress Shoe mistakes and how you can avoid them so you present yourself in the best possible way.

Transcript:

Now that you’ve mastered the three most essential shoes in a man’s shoe closet, it’s really important to avoid certain things.

Square toe monk strap shoe from Harry S. Truman

1. Don’t Wear Square-Toed Shoes

First of all, do not buy square-toed shoes and by square toed shoes, I don’t mean the fine chiseled toes from English shoemakers. I mean these kinds of ugly shoes with rubber soles, big, chunky toe boxes and they simply make you look like a peasant. They’re clunky, they’re not elegant, they’re not stylish and it doesn’t matter if it’s a lace-up shoe or sometimes they come in loafers with like elastic sides. They look horrible and you should avoid them at all cost.

2. Do Not Buy The Same Shoe Twice

The second thing you shouldn’t do is to buy the same shoe twice or the same shoe in a different color. I hear you, you just got a pair of shoes and you really love it. It fits well, it looks good on you, why not buy a second pair you might think.Yu are at the beginning of building your shoe closet and maybe if you already have three pairs of shoes, you can buy a pair of the same shoe but if you are not there yet, what you should do is buy one style at a time because that gives you more versatility and different looks. if you buy a quality shoe, you can wear it long enough that you shouldn’t need a second pair which is exactly the same or just the same style in a different color. What you can do is you can get something on the same last but it being a different shoe and that’s definitely something to consider because if the fit is right, you want to keep that fit but you want to change the look.

3. Avoid Rubber Soles

Third don’t is to avoid rubber soles. Dress shoes are dressy and you want to have a leather sole because when you walk it gives that really elegant sound and they may be a little more difficult to maintain but a good leather sole won’t let water in even if it’s raining and if you live in an area where it’s really wet or the winters are long, you can get rubber galoshes to wear on the outside and then take them off when you’re inside.

Pediwear Collection Black Cap Toe Oxford – True Budget Oxford at 109.50 GBP.

4. Stick To The Basics

Four, don’t buy shoes that are too colorful in the beginning or too unusual. Skip the spectators, skip dark green or blue shoes when you’re just starting out. Even though they may be 80% off and on sale and you may like the look, at the end of the day, you’re not going to get a lot of wear out of them and they’re going to stay in your shoe closet and the cost per wear goes up. Invest wisely, take a look at your shoe closet and see what you have. Oxfords or Derbies are always a good start.

If you don’t have the styles I recommend, I really suggest you take a look att them and I promise you, it will help you to create a long lasting versatile wardrobe that is elegant and stylish for the foreseeable future.

If you enjoyed this video, please sign up to our email list and I’ll send you more of these videos right to your inbox and check out our website www gentlemansgazette.com where we have a lot of material all about classic men’s clothing and style.Thank you!