So I just came back from an amazing trip to Turkey. On route to our final destination, my husband and I stopped over in London for a few days to do some sightseeing… actually, I was trying to see if Will and Kate would have us over for tea. They were busy.
Shortly into our London trip, I noticed something that was VERY appealing to me – men were walking around with beautifully-designed shoes. I don’t just mean trendy-looking shoes, no no. I mean great quality, amazingly-shaped, textured shoes. I noticed this not just on men in suits (the lawyers, consultants, bankers, etc) but also on casually-dressed men (like jeans, a golf shirt and GREAT shoes kinda guy). I even made my husband take notice at the unusual high proportion of totally amazing men’s shoes walking around London.
So over a pint of beer and bangers and mash (I had vegetarian bangers in an ol’ English pub – HA!), my husband and I discussed this revelation (only a revelation to me I’m sure). Here’s what I landed on:
- Men in London have a better sense of style – my husband obviously disagreed with this generalization and proceeded to correct me using economic theory and equations drawn in the air (ok, the second part is a bit of an exaggeration).
- There are more men in London than there are in most Canadian cities so just in terms of sheer numbers we are bound to see more men walking around. In other words, there are many more men with GREAT shoes walking around.
- Competition in the marketplace is much fiercer in London so dressing the part is every bit as important as one’s skills/knowledge.
- London is situated close to big European shoe designers/brands and, therefore, has easier access to a more diverse selection of GREAT dress and casual shoes.
The shoe conversation deteriorated after a couple pints of beer so this is really all that I came up with….
The last thing I’ll leave you with is this:
I saw a middle-aged man, probably with 25+ years of work experience, wearing the most impeccable shoes. They were not brand new but they were well-designed, in great condition, and styled perfectly with his attire. So the concept of not needing/wanting to look stylish because of a certain level of substance (e.g. work experience) didn’t really seem to apply in this case. Maybe this was a one-off case but I’d rather believe that was not a single case. Why then, did this man, who clearly had a lot of work experience (ok, maybe that’s not true… just because he had salt & pepper hair, doesn’t mean he’s the CEO or something like that) put in the effort of being stylish?
What do you think?
