Ultimate Guide to Double Monk Strap Dress Shoes How To Buy A Pair Double Monks Buying
Monk-Strap
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Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno.
I'm the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, gentlemen, we're going to be talking about the double monk strap, how to go out
there and identify the double monk strap.
We're going to talk about the history of the double monk strap and we're going to talk
about how it can fit in your wardrobe.
I've got a quick question for you.
Before we get into this video, gentlemen, go in the comments down below.
Let me know where do you think in the number of shoes the first pair of shoes you should
buy.
What do you think it should be, the second pair, the third pair, the fourth pair and
the fifth pair, and where do you think a pair of double monk straps falls?
Does it fall on the first five pairs or does it fall out or is it the first pair you should
buy?
I'm just curious, gentlemen.
I have my answer and I'll reveal it at the end, but I'd love to hear from you.
Now, this is brought to you by Paul Evans.
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All right, guys, let's get into the content.
Some of you guys are wondering, "Okay, Antonio, you're talking about the double monk strap.
What about just the regular monk strap?"
Good question.
This is a single monk strap or basically a single strap.
We've got the buckle and that is the easiest thing to identify.
Now, where does this come from?
Where do buckles and the whole idea of the strap come from on shoes?
It actually goes back almost a thousand years.
If we go into religious orders, they wore sandals quite a bit, but these guys did a
lot of work, so the monks came up with the idea.
"Hey, let's wear a pair of shoes" that are a pair of footwear -- they didn’t have truly
shoes the way we define them now -- that actually had a piece of leather that covered the top
of their foot and protected their feet.
This was the origin of the monk strap.
It was held with a strap at the time and we've seen these things go in and out of style over
time.
In fact, if you go to the inauguration of George Washington, he actually had buckles
on his shoes that had a little bit of diamond in crust.
It's interesting because within 30 or 40 years later, we had a very big shift in terms of
men's style and people weren't wearing buckles with diamonds on them like George Washington
was.
The key with the double monk is that this right here has the two straps, and now we're
going to get into part two.
We've talked a little bit about the history.
Let's talk about the features.
The key identifier is going to be the buckle.
This should undo, but one thing on most modern designs is this isn't actually what holds
it.
There's going to be a little bit of an elastic in here, which is going to make it much more
comfortable whenever you're wearing this.
The other features, a heel.
All monk straps are going to have -- modern interpretations are going to have a heel.
With that, you're going to see these come in a wide variety of different uppers, so
this one right here is a simple, plain leather, but you'll see cap toes.
You're going to see these in suede.
You'll see them with a bit of broguing on them as well.
The design, you're also going to see boots come as monk straps, so that's common.
When it comes to formality between the single and the double, the single is going to be
a little bit more formal and the reason being is with the double monk, we're going to have
this extra large size of leather, although historically this is probably going to be
more accurate to what used to be worn if you go back hundreds of years because it actually
has that bigger chunk of leather that covers the upper.
We've talked about the history.
We've talked about some of the features.
Where is this going to fit in your wardrobe?
Hopefully you guys have gone down below and you've put down what number you think this
is going to fit into your wardrobe.
In my opinion, this is the number three or could be the number three shoe that you go
out there and purchase when you're building an interchangeable wardrobe.
I'm going to say that you could go back and forth.
You could say, "I'm going to have a nice pair of chukkas.
That's going to be my number three."
I understand, but one thing I really love about the double monk strap is where it falls
in level of formality.
It is not as formal as my number one choice, which is going to be a classic pair of Oxfords.
These have a close lacing system and these you can wear, if they were in black and well-polished,
with a black tie or with any suit to an interview.
With this one right here, which would be my number two, which is a Derby which has the
open lace system, this right here is going to be the number two pair of shoes that I
think a man should have in his wardrobe.
But the number three, all of a sudden, you can start bringing in a wide variety.
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Why I like the double monk strap -- and it could be three, four, five, any of those I
think is going to be fine -- is if you travel, this is a beautiful shoe to be able to slip
on, slip off.
It's incredibly versatile, so you can wear this with a casual suit.
Now, you're probably not going to want to wear this in an interview, but you could get
away with it.
You're probably going to want to wear this more with sports jackets, odd trousers, gray
flannels are a great option, but you can dress this down especially the double monk.
You could wear this with a pair of dark colored jeans and a sweater.
What does that tell you if you're a traveler and in terms of where it fits in your wardrobe?
It's incredibly versatile and you can pack lighter.
So something like this is a great travel shoe.
I'm a big fan of the monk strap.
Now, go check out the article, guys.
I'm going to link to it down below over at Real Men Real Style.
I go into a lot more detail in the article and hopefully you've enjoyed this.
Now, guys, if you've got any questions, make sure you leave them down below and go check
out Paul Evans.
They've done a great job sponsoring this video and they make a quality product, again, great
customer service.
Go check them out.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
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