What's new

Black Dress Shoes

I am looking for a wedding and funeral basic black dress shoe for the more mature (over 50), conservative, somewhat price conscious male. Any suggestions?
 
Black cap toe...classic, timeless and always in fashion. My Johnston & Murphys have been doing well for the past 10+ years.

Fun fact-Ronald Regan had a pair of J&M black cap toes. hey, if they were good enough for The Gipper...
 
Black wingtip brogues:
Shiny for when you're wearing a suit / Dull for when you're wearing jeans
Or
For extra comfort and ultra cool styling either zip-up or elastic sided boots with the wingtip brogue pattern on the toecap- looks just as good with a suit or jeans
 
I'd say, buy what you like and know quality dress shoes even to with denim, so buy to wear often and for a long long time.
I'd search Ebay for deal on both new and pre-owned. There you will find estate sales, close-outs and other great deals.
Any brand from Johnson & Murphy up is worth a look. Aldens at at the top, if you find a pair you'll be hooked.
 
Look for an Allen Edmonds Outlet in your area and see what they might have to offer. If you are not going to wear the shoes often, they should last for a looooong time- it makes sense to buy a classic design which you can be happy with for many years.
 
I've been wearing the same pair of Florsheims for some 35 years. The only other dress shoes I've ever had were patent leather Corcoran's I wore in the service.
 
I have black wing tips, both low quarter and high top, a pair of really dressy high top cap toe shoes, with perforated decorative cap, and my old plain semi military style . All are appropriate for dress.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Black, cap-toe Oxfords.


... not Derby or Blucher ... Oxford. That's your best bet.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The standard American cap-toe is the Allen Edmonds Park Avenue ($385) but it's quite an investment. Shoebank.com offers seconds at a significant discount. Keep an eye out for Brooks Brothers versions as well. If you know your size, you can often find almost new versions on eBay for $200 or so.

Johnston & Murphy offers the Melton ($175) which has a very similar shoe for a lot less cash. The soles are glued instead of stitched, but you can still have them refurbished and resoled. This would be my pick.

If you're on a tight budget, Florsheim offers the Lexington ($115) which is a little drab looking and is a step down in quality from the above shoes, but it's still a respectable pick.

Below that it's a roll of the dice. Most cheaper department store shoes are going to be blucher-style vamps which are often more comfortable but less traditional and more casual. You'll often find they have a thick coating of polish to cover up imperfections in cheap leather. It works just fine, but that's the compromise with low price shoes.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
If you are only going to where them a few times a year, then I also recommend Florscheim. Decently made with a good price
 
I have a pair of Bostonian cap toe's - nice all around shoe. In fact I wore them today at work appearing in court. Can be had for less than $100 lots of places.
 
Brogueing is the holes punched in the leather, not the style of the shoe. A more formal Oxford, with closed lacing, can have brogueing. And a less formal blutcher can be plain, without brogueing. It's more about the lacing, open vs closed, that makes the formality of the shoe. I think if you want a black dress shoe for weddings, funerals, etc you definately want the more formal Oxford. Brogue or not is up to you and your taste.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Brogueing is the holes punched in the leather, not the style of the shoe. A more formal Oxford, with closed lacing, can have brogueing. And a less formal blutcher can be plain, without brogueing. It's more about the lacing, open vs closed, that makes the formality of the shoe. I think if you want a black dress shoe for weddings, funerals, etc you definately want the more formal Oxford. Brogue or not is up to you and your taste.

Yes, but ... brogueing orriginated in Scottish shoes with actual holes in them for letting water drain out when walking through the swampy moors. So, being a charateristic of a 'country' shoe it maes the shoe less formal than without. So either an Oxford or a blucher can slide itself up or down the fomality scale by having or not having brogueing.

So at the 'most formal' end of the scale is a captoe oxford without brogueing.

But I think your post is onto something in that picking an oxford over a blucher is going to get you farther along the formality scale than the question of whether or not it has brogueing.
 
Top Bottom