Yesterday, I was tripping over several pairs of shoes in order to get to the one I wanted to wear. For a moment I stopped and really looked at my shoe rack.
Adam believes I have too many pairs of shoes, but I think most men can get along with just three (black, brown, and casual).
Women on the other hand understand every occasion requires a different shoe. But, I think there are no occasions in my future that require a sturdy black, leather penny loafer.
About 16 years ago, I invested $80 in my first and only pair of penny loafers. After reading The Official Preppy Handbook, I knew I had to have them — because in the 1980s who wasn’t trying to be a good preppy.
Somewhere in the book, Lisa Birnbach suggested that a good pair of loafers would get you through college, graduate school, and through your first child.
A pair of sturdy shoes that lasted that long appealed to me. And so there I was, horning my feet into stiff leather black shoes. They are older than any other shoes in my closet. And truly it got me through college, and graduate school. I haven’t had that first child — so I can’t vouch for that — but I’m eight years out of graduate school and they’re still going strong.
The ‘California’ lifestyle, however, doesn’t really cater to loafers. California, by far, is more of a ‘flip-flops’ lifestyle. In Connecticut, Massachusetts, or New York, where you’d wear loafers — in California — insert thongs.
At work, play, weddings, funerals — it’s all like a scene from The Big Lebowski.
As I plan to permanently settle in this big city without a center — I think my loafers my just have to go.
foleydog
Vortigern
