Inspired by the HIDEOUS SHOES thread (MEN'S SHOES)

[skypilot]

I've been holding off on this rant for a long time but the HIDEOUS SHOES thread gave me a little push.

MEN'S SHOES ARE SO FUCKING UGLY ANYMORE!!!!!!

I can't find a decent pair of shoes to save my life. The only nice shoes I see are the traditional wingtips and other such shoes that businessmen wear, but those are too dressy and not my style. I've been trying for years now to find a decent pair of casual shoes or boots (not sneakers) that I can stand to look at. Things started going downhill several years ago when the designers of men's show decided that the toe had to be shaped like a damned spatula. I watched the toes on men's shoes get squarer and squarer and SQUARER!!! Then suddenly those glorified bowling shoes hit the scene. You know the ones I'm talking about. They look as though the designer couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to make a shoe or a sneaker so he kinda made both--in one. I hate those damned things. Now it seems we are starting to go in the other direction where the toes on men's shoes are pointy enough to stab someone in the shower with. I have gone from one end of this town to the other stopping in every shoe store along the way and I'll be damned if I can find a single pair of shoes that I'd be happy to plop my money down for. And don't even get me started on how poorly a lot of these shoes are made....

[pagerbear]

1. Hey, Sky, how poorly are some of these shoes made?

[skypilot]

2. Shaking my fist at you!!!!!

x(

[pagerbear]

3. Oh.

I was hoping you'd shake something else at me.

[Kahuna]

4. Men want comfortable shoes. That's why they're so ugly.

Men seem willing to substitute aesthetics for comfort. You ever notice what women's comfortable shoes look like? They're not attractive either.

[skypilot]

6. Some of these ugly shoes I've seen...

...are NOT particularly comfortable. And, as I pointed out in my original post some designers are making the same mistake with men's shoes that they make with women's shoes: pointy toes. So, it's not a pursuit of comfort that is resulting in all these ugly shoes.

[Phillycat]

5. Two words for you--Doc Martins.

They look good with everything.

[RivetJoint]

7. Not a business suit...

[sundog]

8. Did someone say pointy???

These double as a weapon when walking down deserted dusty rat-infested city back alleys at 3am

[RivetJoint]

9. WHO would WEAR that??

[sundog]

10. a sexually ambiguous James Bond might...

Just pull em off & they become a butcher knife

[skypilot]

11. Yes!!!

I'm starting to see this kind of crap creeping into shoe stores around here. They've just gone from one extreme to the other: extremely square-toed to extremely pointy. I'm sure there is a nice proportion somewhere in between but shoe designers don't seem interested in finding it.

[ze_dscherman]

12. Clarks

Good quality, very good walking in them. Mostly classical, decent stuff. I don't wear other shoes in office or in the city. They are not cheap, but I never regretted bying any pair of them and wear them till it's finally over. Which takes years.

[skypilot]

13. Do they have a website?

I'll look them up if they do.

[ze_dscherman]

17. They have

http://www.clarksusa.com
http://www.clarks.com

But they don't show much, especially in the dress casual section (the stuff I prefer).

[flvegan]

14. Thank the corporate overlords that I have casual dress here...

I'm wearing Vans right now...wore my New Balance sneaks yesterday.

[K8-EEE]

15. I Know It Sounds Grandpa-ish But Try Land's End

My husband loves their shoes and they are so well made. A couple of years ago I was reading how cheap shoes are one of the main things filling up the landfills these days and how it is more economical in the long-run to buy $50 shoes than constantly be wearing out crappy $20 shoes that are also ugly and uncomfortable.

My hub NEVER wears a suit although they do have dress shoes there. He works in animation and usually wears khakis or jeans to the office, he likes these shoes a lot:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002VUYN0/qid=1096386743/sr=1-24/ref=sr_1_24_a/002-4831348-2950462?v=glance&n=1036682

[skypilot]

16. I know that at least one pair of shoes that I owned....

...is in a landfill. A few years ago I bought a pair of shoes from J.Crew. I paid $100.00 for them. They didn't last 6 months. It was only after they started falling apart that I took a really good look at them and saw just how cheap they were. They LOOKED like a sturdy shoe because they were black, a little bulky, and slightly severe looking--they just looked like a solid shoe. They weren't. I know what to look for now as far as a shoe's construction.