Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends he has asked the Manolo the questions.
I am an Englishman living in Switzerland. Naturally, I approve entirely of your stated preference for English suits and John Lobb shoes (though might I be so bold, as someone with a little inside knowledge of the industry, as to recommend the most elegant shoes of Edward Green as an off-the-shelf alternative ?). Unfortunately, many of my Swiss colleagues do not share your wisdom and fine taste – indeed, it may be said that Switzerland is something of a fashion wasteland.
Naturally, in an effort to help my colleagues to eliminate the fashion faux pas they so often inflict not only on themselves but on the rest of us, I have pointed them in the direction of your blog (which I must say really is the bees knees). As a first step in their education, might I ask you to pronounce on the following three issues of business fashion etiquette, which seem to be particular areas of confusion :
1. The wearing of brown shoes with suits.
2a. The wearing of loafers with suits.
2b. The wearing of loafers with tassels with suits
2c. The wearing of loafers with tassels in general.
3. How to choose a tie to go with a check sports jacket.
Manolo says, the friend of the Manolo he has the excellent taste in shoes. The Edward Green, their bespoke shoes are the beautiful objects for the man, and their their ready-to-wear shoes they are indeed handsome.
Unfortunately, they are most difficult to find in the America.
As for the questions that the friend he has asked (although it seems as though the friend he already knows the answers to these question) the Manolo he will provide the answers:
1. Manolo says, the practice of the wearing of the brown shoes with the dark suits it is becoming increasingly and depressingly common.
Indeed it is permissable to wear the brown shoes with the suits, but only under the following conditions: the color of the suit should be lighter than the color of the shoes, which narrows the wearing of the brown shoes to the khaki and the light grey suits, although with some of the tones of the earth you may break this rule. The brown shoes are especially good with the suits for the warmer weather. Otherwise the man he should stick to the shoes of black.
2a. Loafers with the suits, no. Loafers with the slacks and the sports coats, yes.
2b. The loafers of the penny, yes. The loafers of the tassel, no. They are too frilly for the serious man.
3. Manolo says, it is the sad fact that too many of the mens they have no taste in the deparment of the cravat. However, the Manolo he would tell you this: if you are wearing the sports coat with the bold pattern it is best to avoid the ties that are too loud, or too busy, or with the bizarrely whimsical pattern, or worst of the all, the type of the tie that the novelist/dandy Tom Wolfe once called the “psychedelic barf”.
Manolo says, the topic of the ties, it is most complex and so it deserves a space of its own. Soon the Manolo he will write a guide on the ties. In the meantime, if you are interested in the high quality ties of the Italians, than the Manolo he recommends this website.