Friday Faux Pas: Grandpa Loafers

Today, having so many options with footwear gives the educated reveling in the diversity that is at their fingertips and the under served buying pieces that may seem stylish, but for one reason or another, fall incredibly short of that mark. No shoe style is so easily messed up as the loafer, with its simplicity either being its shining trait or epic downfall, but the greatest issue happens with the vamp.

These here, are the culprit.

The vamp, or the top portion of the shoe helps to dictate the motif of any particular shoe, and with the loafers, that's about the only piece to the stylistic puzzle. When the vamp is nice and high, it adds to the dressy nature of any loafer, making the normally casual footwear option become one of the most versatile pieces of a wardrobe. As the vamp shortens, exposing more of the foot, the more casual tones start exuding from the leather. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there is a threshold (relative to your own foot) that is crossed, where a casual loafer becomes the dreaded grandpa loafer. The name says it all, and if you jog any memories of a classy nursing home or similarly elevated bingo night, it's easy to recall exactly what they are; stingy vamp, classic penny or horse bit styling, and usually in one of the classic shades of leather. Do yourself a favor and save the humiliation for a style risk, not a mid-century misstep.

These here, are part of the solution.

Check in tomorrow for a stylish celebrity influence and next Friday for the next installment of my fashion faux pas!