I'm not the kind of guy who dresses up very much. I hate long sleeves, for one thing, and I much prefer being able to go barefoot at short notice. Sure, I wear mostly button-down shirts instead of geek t-shirts these days (not to mention having become one of those guys who wears a hat everywhere) but that's... not exactly dressing up. There's only so much you can do with jeans (or shorts) and no shoes.
(Digression: contemporary men's fashion is almost exclusively derived from late-Victorian/Edwardian menswear. My distaste for the trappings of steampunk may very well derive from my ten-year-old self's hatred of wearing a suit and tie to church every Sunday.)
Every so often, though, I get the idea in my head that I'd like to look a bit sharper on a day-to-day basis. When this happens I start thinking about ways to spiff up my wardrobe. The idea goes away after a couple of weeks but the acquired articles of clothing tend to stick around.
Last time this happened was around Xmastime. I hit the post-Boxing-Day sale at a fancy tailor downtown and picked up a lightweight jacket that's a touch nicer than the one I'd been wearing. I also realised that I was entirely out of my depth: surrounded by suits and fancy dress shirts, with no real idea of what I was looking at beyond that. That put paid pretty quickly to the notion of 'dressing a little nicer.' I still wear the jacket, though.
This time the trigger was shoes, of all things. Several people at Readercon were complimenting each other on their (very nice I suppose, again I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm looking for) footwear, and it turned out that a number of them were wearing Fluevogs. Which come from Vancouver. SUPPORT THE HOME TEAM or something, I don't even know. The desire for a Good Pair Of Slightly-Fancy Dress Boots just lodged itself in my head and will not go away.
Now, anyone who's spent any amount of time around me is aware that I don't so much wear shoes. I started wearing Tevas in high school, and the only change has been a switch to Chacos about a decade ago. I like Chacos. They're comfy, they fit my freakishly wide feet, and they're easy to remove when I feel like barefootin' for a bit.
The other thing about me and shoes is the aforementioned freakish width. I wear a size 9 1/2 EEEE last time I checked. (Four Es, yes.) Shoes just don't fit me. Either I can't wedge my toes into them, or they flop around on my heel. So I figure, eh, I can go down to the Fluevog store and between my natural pickiness and their being sized to fit normal human feet I won't find anything.
Which is about exactly what happened. The gorgeous blue Lancasters are wide enough in a 10 but feel loose on the heel, and the classy black Newburys fit my heel properly in an 11 but are still too snug across the top of the ball of the foot. F'ing cobblers, how do they work.
I still hold out some vague hope. I'll keep an eye out as the fall styles come in, and maybe one of those will do. I'd like to have something to show off at Steph's wedding next month.
On the bright side, I let myself get talked into a new blazer, and I somehow talked![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
uilos into buying a fantastic pair of blue-and-silver shoes that may well last the rest of her life. So there's that.
(Digression: contemporary men's fashion is almost exclusively derived from late-Victorian/Edwardian menswear. My distaste for the trappings of steampunk may very well derive from my ten-year-old self's hatred of wearing a suit and tie to church every Sunday.)
Every so often, though, I get the idea in my head that I'd like to look a bit sharper on a day-to-day basis. When this happens I start thinking about ways to spiff up my wardrobe. The idea goes away after a couple of weeks but the acquired articles of clothing tend to stick around.
Last time this happened was around Xmastime. I hit the post-Boxing-Day sale at a fancy tailor downtown and picked up a lightweight jacket that's a touch nicer than the one I'd been wearing. I also realised that I was entirely out of my depth: surrounded by suits and fancy dress shirts, with no real idea of what I was looking at beyond that. That put paid pretty quickly to the notion of 'dressing a little nicer.' I still wear the jacket, though.
This time the trigger was shoes, of all things. Several people at Readercon were complimenting each other on their (very nice I suppose, again I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm looking for) footwear, and it turned out that a number of them were wearing Fluevogs. Which come from Vancouver. SUPPORT THE HOME TEAM or something, I don't even know. The desire for a Good Pair Of Slightly-Fancy Dress Boots just lodged itself in my head and will not go away.
Now, anyone who's spent any amount of time around me is aware that I don't so much wear shoes. I started wearing Tevas in high school, and the only change has been a switch to Chacos about a decade ago. I like Chacos. They're comfy, they fit my freakishly wide feet, and they're easy to remove when I feel like barefootin' for a bit.
The other thing about me and shoes is the aforementioned freakish width. I wear a size 9 1/2 EEEE last time I checked. (Four Es, yes.) Shoes just don't fit me. Either I can't wedge my toes into them, or they flop around on my heel. So I figure, eh, I can go down to the Fluevog store and between my natural pickiness and their being sized to fit normal human feet I won't find anything.
Which is about exactly what happened. The gorgeous blue Lancasters are wide enough in a 10 but feel loose on the heel, and the classy black Newburys fit my heel properly in an 11 but are still too snug across the top of the ball of the foot. F'ing cobblers, how do they work.
I still hold out some vague hope. I'll keep an eye out as the fall styles come in, and maybe one of those will do. I'd like to have something to show off at Steph's wedding next month.
On the bright side, I let myself get talked into a new blazer, and I somehow talked
uilos into buying a fantastic pair of blue-and-silver shoes that may well last the rest of her life. So there's that.