A be-loafered Cary Grant (1953)

It’s a subject more divisive than Gordon Brown’s government: loafers or lace-ups? Most men resolutely stick to one or the other but when it comes to summer the choice isn’t quite so simple. In the workplace, a black leather cap-toed Oxford is as popular as President Obama but it’s a problem when paired with lightweight suits.

The loafer, meanwhile, is the Bill Clinton of shoes: fantastic if you can get away with it but fraught with risk nonetheless. Suede loafers, with their whiff of the Croisette at Cannes, don’t work in London’s Square Mile any better than white Havaiana flip-flops. How, then, to find some footwear that matches the progression from winter to spring suits while retaining an adequate level of formality?

“I don’t do loafers at all,” says Nick Hart, founder of the Savile Row tailor Spencer Hart. “To me, loafers look too American. I would recommend Edward Green’s chocolate brown suede lace-up brogues for the summer suit. Don’t be fooled by sartorial rules involving what one is allowed to wear with what. That is only for the insecure: the bullies and the bullied. Rules are fun to know and in the hands of the stylish are there to be broken. And chocolate brown is the new black.”

According to Gieves & Hawkes design director Frederik Willems: “When the loafer is worn with summer suits, it has a more Continental feel and looks right when made in the finest leather or suede. As for loafers without socks, I feel it is more appropriate for a casual summer weekend. A lace-up will always bring more business cachet to a summer suit.”

A lace-up

“As a rule, guys come in for a loafer or a [lace-up] shoe. You rarely get them out of one camp and into another,” says Nathan Brown, founder of Lodger Footwear on London’s Clifford Street. “A lot of successful trader types in their mid-30s buy the black Italian loafer for the blue suit a half size too big, and kick them off at their desk. The 40-plus bankers favour the English version of the penny loafer, with the rounded toe that they try to dress up with a coloured sock. Neither is what I would call wearing a loafer in a modern, serious way. Most guys don’t know how to wear a serious slip-on in a formal way.”

As far as Brown is concerned, the oxblood leather Italian contemporary loafer is the definitive navy suit summer shoe. “Whereas most shoe stores report 80 per cent sales in black, we are finding more than 50 per cent of Lodger guys taking us up on our colours,” he says.

Popular models include a navy suede lace-up with full leather sole and a white nubuck lace-up 1930s inspired tennis shoe with two-piece toecap and hand-stitching on the quarters that works with a seersucker suit or white jeans and navy blazer.

“With suits, I favour a more constructed shoe such as Cleverley’s classic suede loafer or the new green or yellow leather ones from Church’s,” says Patrick Grant, managing director of Savile Row’s Norton & Sons. “Summer flannels cut a bit fuller and cry out for natural canvas lace-ups or Lodger’s nubuck tennis shoe. The message really is cover all bases, and make sure you think about the whole ensemble balancing, so that suit and shoe are in harmony.”

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Details

www.lodgerfootwear.com
www.church-footwear.com
www.edwardgreen.com
www.gjcleverely.co.uk