Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video, we'll talk about how to
pair dress shoes and jeans.
Some of you might find yourselves unsure of how to
properly style yourselves when wearing dress shoes or jeans.
Well, I'm here to tell you it is more than possible
to pull off wearing dress shoes and jeans while maintaining some personality
and a sense of professionalism. However, we don't simply want to wear
any dress shoes with any pair of jeans you might happen to have lying around in
your closet. There are a few key things to look out
for to make sure that your end result looks clean cut
and effortless. Now, let's first examine style, fit,
and color and the correct and incorrect aspects of these categories.
First, let's start out with the correct style. Now, the style of the jeans that we're
going to be looking for are clean-cut, timeless, preferably in a dark wash a few
dress shoes to consider wearing with these jeans would be derbies, monk
straps, loafers, or even brogues. Now desert boots
or chukka boots could also be considered for more casual occasions.
Now, let's move on to the correct fit. First and foremost,
the jeans should properly fit the wearer's body type. For more
information on how to determine your ideal fit in jeans,
check out this video here. (link in description box)
and now, let's talk about the correct color.
The goal is to make sure that the color of the shoes and jeans that you
choose don't detract from the rest of your
outfit. We really want to make sure that the color
of the dress shoes and the jeans will complement one another
so it's very important to select a very versatile color of shoe
and very neutral or dark color in your jeans. Now, let's talk about the incorrect
way to go about doing this. Regarding style, the incorrect way to
go about doing this would be to wear jeans that are inconsistent with the
style of your shoes. For example, wearing jeans in a modern
style but dress shoes that happen to look much more classic.
Now this causes an onlooker to believe that some element of your outfit might
have been an afterthought as the styles do not complement one another. Now, you
really want to avoid jeans that are distressed and highly
embellished. Jeans that have overtly large pockets or even pocket
details. Also, try to avoid jeans that have very
large pronounced contrast stitching. Now, it might seem obvious but we also
really want to avoid wearing patent leather evening dress shoes or
even some kind of a hybrid shoe. These are pretty popular right now
but this will detract from the rest of the outfit. Now, let's move on to
incorrect fit. It's important to avoid
ill-fitting and flattering jeans that are either
too loose or far too tight.Wearing jeans that are too short
or far too long is also incorrect. You should also avoid jeans that are going
to sit too low on your waistline. This will become an issue
when you start tucking in your shirt and wearing a belt.
If you're not wearing a sport coat or a sweater to cover your waistline, you
might notice that your untucked shirt might become exposed
rather quickly. Finally, let's talk about incorrect color.
Try to avoid jeans and non-neutral colors with a lot of fading or
whiskering over the thigh and/or seat area. It's
very important to stay consistent with the general style of your outfit.
If you don't, certain elements of your outfit will stand out for all the wrong
reasons. We want to make sure that you remain as
the focus. The clothing is here to compliment you,
not absorb all the attention. Now let's take a look at some of the myths people
carry about wearing dress shoes with jeans. Myth number 1: I'll just go
ahead and wear any style of jeans with my outfit. I'll just elevate it with
a pair of dress shoes. No, in fact, this is not accurate. Just
because a pair of shoes is listed as dress shoes doesn't indicate that they
should be worn with that particular outfit
and in the same way, not all jeans will work for all situations,
personalities or body types. Now, do your best to stay away from boot cut jeans
and instead, look for a pair that is as tapered as your body type will allow.
The lack of excess fabric found in your jeans will in fact give your outfit
a very clean finish unless however, you are a very muscular
man with larger legs in which case you may need to look for a
more regular fit. Myth number two: I have to wear really short and narrow
jeans like those hipsters in order to look stylish. No. In fact, it
is not a requirement to wear your jeans too tight or too
short in order to look stylish. As mentioned earlier, slim fit is
ideal but in fact, you should only wear things as slim as your body type will
allow. Myth number three: as long as the
shoes look vaguely like dress shoes then everything will be fine. No. Actually,
it's very important that you invest in as good of a pair of dress shoes as
you can afford as opposed to getting faux leather or plastic looking shoes
that might be coming from a fast fashion brand.
A majority of your outfit with jeans may lean more casual
so you wearing good quality leather shoes will help raise the standard of
your entire outfit. Now that we've discovered how to best
pair dress shoes and jeans, let's look at a few different outfit
ideas on how we can make this entire outfit feel complete.
Number one: the sport coat and dress shirt. Now, this is one of the most
popular combinations men wear. If you have proper fitting sport coat
options at your disposal, this outfit will be fairly simple to put
together. Now, the key here is to make sure that the color selection is
accurate and that the patterns, whether that be
found in your shirt your pocket square or your jacket are
complementing one another and not competing. Number two: the
turtleneck and sport coat. Now, this outfit is also fairly simple to
pull off but is best suited for a colder season.
If you currently don't own any turtlenecks, I would recommend that you
start looking for some in neutral colors and either a merino wool or cashmere
blend. Try to find some that are also not too bulky
because it's important to maintain some sense of freedom of movement
underneath your sport coat. Number three: the sweater and dress shirt.
Now, the dark wash jeans you're wearing are going to pair nicely with a variety
of different sweater colors. The simplest way to pull off this
outfit is to start out with solid colored sweaters.
This is going to look great over both pattern or solid colored shirts.
Try to steer clear of sweaters that are too bulky. If you don't plan on
wearing a sport coat with this outfit, try also looking for a shawl-collared
sweater as well and now, here are a few extra tips to make sure that your
experience wearing jeans with your dress shoes goes off without a
hitch. First, don't go sockless, please. The noses of
the entire world will thank you but seriously, without the ability to
breathe your feet will begin to smell and sweat and can possibly ruin the
interior of your shoes. It's not a good thing at the very least.
Throw on a pair of no-show socks and keep your sweaty feet at bay. Next,
it's important to not wear flat, black, or straight white socks with your
dress shoes and jeans. The white socks will look quite
distracting and almost as though they are missing their sneaker counterparts,
wearing black socks might look too formal or dressy with this outfit with
jeans. Instead, start by looking for a unique
color and or pattern to add some life to your ankles. For some
great sock options, check out the Fort Belvedere shop here
(link in description box)
And finally, it's important to remember that a little contrast can actually go
a long way. Now with your dress shoes, it's best to opt for a shade of brown
as that's going to offer you the most versatility when it comes to
other shoe colors you can consider. There's blue, there's gray,
there are many, many others but a shade of brown will offer you the most options.
Now let's go over a few different ways in which you can accessorize
this new outfit. You can always add a classic watch, a signet ring, a pocket
square, or even a signature scent. For more
information on fragrances for men check out this video here. (link in description box) Also, to find a
number of phenomenal pocket squares to help polish off your outfit,
check out the Fort Belvedere shop. So in conclusion, it's important to
remember that you can absolutely wear dress shoes
with your jeans, however, there are some things to avoid to make
sure that your entire outfit looks effortless and timeless. Also,
please remember not all dress shoes are going to look
good with all jeans. The dress shoes should complement and not compete with
the rest of your outfit. Complete your outfit with a variety of
different combinations but if you can't decide on what to wear,
try one of the outfit combinations that we suggested earlier. Now today I'm
wearing a tan and white plaid sport coat along with
a burgundy sweater over a white dress shirt
and then I'm pairing that with a really unique burgundy paisley print
pocket square from Fort Belvedere. I'm pairing that against
a dark wash indigo slim fit denim and some suede
leather dress shoes. I'm also wearing a navy blue and burgundy shadow stripe
Fort Belvedere pair of socks as well to finish off the entire look
and to tie in nicely with the Fort Belvedere pocket square
and my burgundy sweater. I also could wear this entire outfit
with a pair of dark brown, suede chukka boots as well.