BorderStyle: These Shoes Were Made for Walking
Khelan Bhatia writes about style for Bordesrtan. (Luis Gomez Photos)
From Khelan Bhatia. You can follow Khelan on Twitter @KhelanB. He lives in the U Street area and writes about style for Borderstan.
Greetings, Borderstanis! I hope you’ve had a pleasant week, even with the drama of a potential government shutdown. My heart to all of you who had to deal with it (and might yet).
So, the other day, I was out with a couple of friends and I noticed that a guy was wearing square-toed lace-ups. Let me repeat that in case you were too shocked by my observation: Square. Toed. Lace. Ups.
Did I somehow step into a time machine? Was I reliving 1998? Did this mean… did this mean that we had to go through Lewinskygate all over again? That I would have to retake my organic chemistry midterm? The horror! (Almost as horrific as square toed lace ups).
No one looks good in square-toed shoes. They’re the footwear equivalent of pleated pants.
I realized quickly that I was still in 2011; Obama was still president; and the fashion faux pas of the 90’s were long behind us. Well, for most of us.
Of course, my natural inclination was to hold an intervention for the gentleman with the shoes Boris Karlof probably wore during the filming of Frankenstein. But with a little help from my friends (i.e. they had to hold me back and muffle me) I kept my composure.
Buy these shoes! Cole Haan Air Colton Saddle Oxfords come in five color combos. (Photo from Khelan Bhatia)
So instead, I’ve decided to go macro with my intervention. Hence, this week’s column.
Guy with the dated footwear: if you’re reading this, I’m dedicating this column to you. No one looks good in square-toed shoes. They’re the footwear equivalent of pleated pants. Sure, they’re roomier, but they don’t flatter anyone. If you really need a shoe with a little more breadth, several designers, like Cole-Haan and Clarks, offer extra wide width choices. Hell, there’s an entire site dedicated to wider footwear.
Now, that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I have a shoe recommendation for the season: Cole Haan Air Colton Saddle Oxford. I bought these bad boys a few weeks ago and I’d wear them every day if I could.
They’re comfortable as hell (they’ve got that Nike Air sole thing) and they look good with almost every outfit (navy suits, dark jeans, chinos, etc.). You can get them here and they come in five different color combos. I bought the Cuoio/Nautical Blue pair.
That’s it for me this week, Borderstanis. Have a terrific weekend!
