So, I do a lot of research trying to figure out exactly how people measure each other up.
I know that this changes over time, so I try to stay on top of things.
But, one thing that I find that stays the same is that people measure other people based
off of their shoes.
I know it sounds strange, but literally there was nineteen-year old, she's writing in one
of those magazines or maybe she had a blog.
And she's saying, you know I find it really weird that I look at a man's shoes when I
first meet him and I basically measure him up based off of his shoes, the type of shoe.
This has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years.
The reason being is that shoes are one of the clear indicators of what a person does
in life, where they come from, what's their background, and it's one of the first things
that we do look at.
So, in today's video, gent's, I want to teach you how to use bold shoes to really level
up your wardrobe.
Gentlemen, I want to let you know this video is brought to you by Ace Marks.
And, if you're unfamiliar with this shoe brand, you you need to get on my e-mail list because
earlier this year I told everyone about a deal on Kickstarter.
I couldn't believe that they sent me some of these samples, I saw the price that they
were at and I'm like holy cow, these are $500 to $600 shoes at half of that price.
So, I sent the e-mail out and two hundred and fifty people like within a day bought
those shoes.
This company is now up and running.
I've spoken with the founder, he's got a really good discount code for you down in the description.
You'll be able to use that discount code to go over to their website, get any shoes you
want.
What I love about Ace Marks because there's a lot of other shoe companies I talk about,
but no one does it like Ace Marks when it comes to bold shoes.
We're talking about contrasting leathers, we're talking about bringing in suede, bringing
in broguing.
It's a great fit overall.
It's made in Italy.
They buy-back programs, so if you got an old pair of shoes, it doesn't matter what brand,
you can send it to them and get an additional $50 off.
They end up donating the shoe to a charity which I think is a pretty good deal.
Guys, Ace Marks is a great company.
Let's get into the content.
Tip number one, add flare to what you already wear.
So, what I love about this point, gentlemen, is that you're not having to go out and buy
new shoes.
You're simply taking the shoes that you already have that you already love and you're taking
them up a level.
An easy way to do this, change out the laces.
Go with something maybe in blue maybe in red maybe in orange.
Have fun with it.
Now, that may be too much for some of you guys, but maybe you've got a light-colored
pair of really nice dress shoes that you've had they're getting a little bit boring.
Well, maybe bring in a darker polished.
All of a sudden, the toe, the back, you polish it up you start to get a little bit of a contrasting
look in the leather.
This is something that you've got to be careful with, but if you if you play around if you
experiment on one part of the shoe, you may be able to get a beautiful look.
Now, the third thing I'm going to recommend is maybe changing out the sole, but not just
going for a regular black.
So, there are colored soles out there, talk with your cobbler about this.
But, if you're going to be rebuilding the shoe, why not go with a bright blue or a bright
red.
Now, it's definitely something that when people look at you they're not going to see it initially,
maybe they'll see a little bit of the edge around the shoe, but whenever you happen to,
you know, be walking, people will see the color it can all of these things are very
small, but ways to work with your existing footwear.
Tip number two to upgrade your wardrobe with bold shoes is to bring in contrasting leathers.
So, contrasting leathers, understand that when you do this the higher the contrast,
the less formal the shoe becomes.
So, this pair of shoes right here, this is an Oxford, this is relatively a dressy pair
of shoes.
I could wear this with a suit and I would have to say the lack of, you know, there's
just a little bit of contrast.
You can barely see the lighter brown with the darker brown, it's got the cap-toe shoe,
all of this in general.
You know I could wear this may be with a navy blue suit, a light-colored suit, it would
still work well.
But, if I went with a derby which, again, is like a blu it's a blucher, basically it's
going to have an open lacing system.
But notice how this right here is going to draw a lot more attention to itself, this
becomes less formal.
Now, you can still pull it off with the casual suit, but it also is something that, hey,
you may want to go with an odd jacket with pair of, you know, odd trousers or you can
wear it with a pair of jeans, a really nice button down and, again, all the attention
then is going to be on the shoes.
Other thing that you can do is bring in suede with a smoother top green leather.
So, understand that there's a lot of ways to do this.
If you go with something that's really high contrast, we're talking like maybe black and
white, understand those are going to become much more attention grabbers and the issue
there is they become less interchangeable.
Tip number three for upgrading your wardrobe with bold shoes is to bring in the brogue.
So, let me go ahead and pull up a quick infographic right here and I want to show you the difference
the four types of brogues that you're going to commonly see out there.
Now, it starts off with the quarter brogue and this is just basically on the cap-toe.
We got a little bit of broguing here.
Now, the semi-brogue.
We're going to start to see a medallion on the front, we're going to see a little bit
of broguing in and around the lacing system.
The wing tip, very clear very easy to spot because of the wing-type of look at the front
of the shoe.
Then, the long wing, this is actually relatively uncommon and it's going to go all the way
in and around the back.
Now, to understand broguing and where it fits in levels of formality, the more broguing
the less formal the shoe it becomes.
And, you can also mix this with what I talked about earlier the contrasting leathers.
Broguing in general is something that gives it a three dimensional definitely a type of
texture type of look I think is a great thing to bring into your shoes.
And understand you don�t have to go for anything bold in the color, you can go for
a dark pair of brown or a light pair of brown brogue shoes, keeps the color pretty much
the same, but let the broguing actually set it apart from anything in your wardrobe.
Tip number four for upgrading your wardrobe with bold shoes is to look at the material
that's used actually in the shoe construction and go for a variety.
Look at different things that could go into it.
So, leather is the most common, but there's many types of leather.
You've got full grain, you've got top grain, you've got suede.
Al this comes from a different cut of the skin, a different layer.
Understand that suede beautiful to look at.
I love texture, draws people to you, you can actually draw attention to the shoe without
having to go for a bold color.
But, texture and suede in general isn't going to be as durable as top grain, but top grain
even though you will have a great for durability, will take a longer time to break in.
So, there is benefits there is cons when it comes to each of them.
I really like a pair of shoes that is going to bring in a variety, I think that's a great
way to instantly draw attention.
There are even leather substitutes.
Yes, if you go out there look for vegan shoes, if you go over to Real Men Real Style we've
got even some options there.
But, really when it comes down to it, guys, you want to look at, okay, how did the material
used, did it change up the overall look and if you can find something that you really
like, go for it.
Tip number five to upgrade your wardrobe with bold shoes is to look at the ornamentation
detail of the shoe.
So, ornamentation I mean the extra bits that are added and that could be metal work that
could be leather work.
So, let's look at buckles.
Monk-strap become very popular in the last five years.
But, look at tassel loafers, again, it's not really using a metal here, it's using an extra
bit of leather work.
You can look at the bit loafer using a little bit of of metal right there.
You can also go in and look at a pair of penny loafers, again, using extra straps of leather
to create a bit of depth and additional feel, but still very casual something that you can
actually pull off with a casual suit.
And, I think by bringing in these small details in, guys, you can really up your shoe game.
Tip number six, play with shoe styles.
So, men we are creatures of habit and we'll fall into, you know, we look at our shoe collection.
I've got five pairs of very similar shoes.
Well, change it up, have some fun.
And, I'm not saying that you got to make a big jump.
So, for a lot of guys maybe going with a laced dress boot is probably going to be maybe too
much, too much of a jump.
I think they're great.
I'm going to pull up a beautiful pair right here which I think if you're wearing jeans
on the weekend you're wearing maybe gray flannels even if you're wearing a pair of, you know,
casual slacks, I think that these or chinos, these are going to look great for you.
But, maybe you want something that's going to help make that transition, then look at
a pair of Chelseas.
A pair of Chelseas I think can actually be worn with suits in inclement weather and can
help you start to basically branch out the styles that you're wearing.
And for those of you that are younger, why not bring in a pair of leather or leather
sneakers or bring in something that's little bit more cutting edge.
I'm going to link you down in the description to a few other YouTube who talk about wearing
sneakers.
I think if you're young and if you're experimenting and if you've got the confidence, you can
pull off almost any type of shoe with any outfit.
Tip number seven, kill it with color.
Now, understand, gentlemen, I left this one til the end because I think color is the first
thing we reach for, but really you could overdo it with color, so be careful, treat it like
a spice, treat it like salt.
You don't want to put too much in your food, it's going to overpower.
Just put enough to basically bring out the taste.
The same thing with your shoes, if you go for too bold of a color, they may look great
once or maybe once a month that you can wear them, but the thing is they're not interchangeable.
You can't wear this multiple times a week, but if you've got just a discreet small bit
of color in it, it's a great way to draw attention to stand out at the same time put it into
your interchangeable wardrobe.
All right, gentlemen.
Now, it's your turn.
I want to hear from you down in the comments.
What did I miss?
What would you add?
what did you think about some of my choices and suggestions?
Let me know in the comments and go check out Ace Marks, guys.
Great company and don't forget about that program.
You send them a pair of shoes, they will give you a $50 discount.
I've got a discount code for you down there.
If you don't want to send them shoes, then use that.
But these guys are making beautiful Italian shoes that could be selling for $500 to $600
and they're selling them at half of that price.
And what sets them apart from all the other companies I've talked about are the bold designs,
the use of suede, little things like that, the use of broguing, everything I talked about.
A lot of the pictures, guys, are from this website, so if you like something, you really
well, you definitely want to go check them out, guys.
They're not going have these prices and deals forever.
So, that's it, guys.
Take care.
I'll see you in the next video.