For many years the saying “shoes speak louder than words” has floated around society and this has never been so true. Unfortunately, the reality is that you are judged in the first few minutes of meeting someone and your shoe choice can determine whether these judgments are negative or positive. This is similar to a handshake because just like in a handshake, your character is being sized up in mere seconds.
Obviously one of the worse things you can do is show a complete lack of care when it comes to footwear. This is accomplished by wearing old, dirty, and scuffed shoes on your feet. Treat your feet with love by clothing them only in the best shoes and you will reap the rewards. Not exactly shoe savvy? Here are 5 tips on getting this “shoe” thing right once and for all.
The first of the 5 tips is to diversify. This means having more than 2 pairs of shoes in your closet. This is no problem for women who can shop shoes until they drop, but we men tend to keep it simple: one black and one blue pair. This just won’t cut it – you need to diversify your collection… and fast! It’s cool to have your all time favorite pair of shoes that go with everything but add to your collection so that you can choose the best pair of shoes to match your outfit – don’t forget how essential they are in portraying you style and self to others. In general you want to have at least 3 different types of footwear. I would say more is better, but keep 3 as your bare minimum: a nice pair of boots, dress shoes and sneakers.
The 2nd tip was touched on briefly in the opening paragraph but the message is so important that it needs to be stressed once more – KEEP YOUR SHOES CLEAN! This rule cannot be broken at any cost. With a nice pair of polished, black shoes your confidence level will rise exponentially and a little polish goes a long way. Not only will you feel better, but people will treat you better in general. When you have noticeable scratch marks all over your shoes, you’re communicating to everyone around you that you don’t care about the way you present yourself. Is this the message you want to send out? Make sure you have a jar of shoe polish and a brush in your closet to keep your shoes looking brand new every time you walk out the door.
Tip number 3 is, don’t buy shoes with high heels. We all immediately associate high heel shoes with women and rightfully so. High heels allow women to stand taller and feel more confident. It also makes their walk sexier – much to the pleasure of us men. However, if your shoes have a very high heel, you’ll just end up looking foolish. High heels on men’s shoes are clown like. Avoid this – even if you would kill for the extra height!
“Pointy” shoe syndrome is the 4th tip. It boggles my mind how often I see fellow men wearing extremely pointy shoes which just make feet look even longer and odd. We all know what they say about the size of a guy’s feet and what it corresponds to, but honestly do you really need to advertise that with horrible looking shoes? If your footwear includes a pair of shoes that resemble knives in the toe area, do yourself a favor and toss them into the trash. Don’t even give them to charity as you will be passing on the misfortune to another. Avoid pointy shoes at all cost – unless you are attending a dress up party!
The fifth and final tip is to make sure that your shoes compliment your clothing. You wouldn’t want to wear your dressiest shoes with a pair of jeans on a Sunday now would you? Although it would be quite entertaining for those looking at you, it won’t exactly scream “I’m shoe savvy”. Think about the total outfit and context of the situation.
When it comes to men’s shoe fashion, it’s not exactly brain surgery. Keep in mind the 5 tips above and remember : if you find people are looking at you strangely then be sure to look down and reevaluate your choice of shoe!
photo credit: Italian Shoes by Magnanni (license)
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