How to Style Dark Suede Oxfords

[neminat]

I have a pair of Cobbler Union dark brown oxfords that I absolutely love but struggle with how to style them. I work in a business casual settings where i never wear a jacket (i wish i could without standing out so much - and trust me they comment). I wear wool trousers and a button up nearly every day and that is even dressed up for most. I am in a senior leadership position but most other men on my level wear jeans with a button up - maybe dress chinos with a polo.

I have three pairs of wool trousers i wear 90% of the time. Navy blue, medium grey, and a greyish brown. All three from Jcrew Ludlow line. I will wear jeans on Friday from time to time. I have several pairs of cotton chinos but rarely wear them. I have a khaki, grey, light blue, dark blue, and green. I typically wear a button up shirt, but on a friday may reach for a polo shirt.

So with that said, i will wear khaki chinos and reach for the dark brown oxfords, but sometimes feel the color is too contrasy. Then sometimes feel that with the grey wool pants they seem off. Today i wore them with my navy wool pants and was not overly comfortable either.

What are your thoughts? How would you pair a dark brown suede oxford? What does it work well with? What does it go poorly with? I think its just not something you see often so i dont feel comfortable in them as I havent been able to take much inspiration from seeing it on others.

[mebejoseph]

Did you happen to stumble on this page? It's got dozen of photos of various styles with dark brown suede shoes. Even though I've never been a huge fan of dark brown shoes, those are quite nice--and I can see the issue you might be having because a cap toe oxford is generally a formal shoe, but suede is a more casual material. I would think they would look good with navy wool trousers or chinos. You could be real safe and wear them with dark brown trousers.


https://lookastic.com/men/dark-brown...rd-shoes/looks

[Loafer28]

I feel like you could wear those with every pair of pants that you have besides the light blue chinos. With dark colors, it’s low contrast look. With light colors, high contrast. Both look fine, but you will have to play around to find what looks good to you. I wore khaki chinos, a white shirt and dark brown suede loafers the other day. I appreciated the contrast, but I found the color tone of the khakis was important. A more yellow tone was not pleasing to my eye, but a more brown tone worked well.

Dark brown suede is super versatile IMO, but you have to get a feel for it.

[neminat]

Thanks guys!!

That looktastic link helped a lot. Seeing them on other people doesnt look weird at all. I think im just not confident in it because you dont see it often.

Loafer28 i appreciate it! After seeing that link, i think you are right, i just need to get comfortable wearing them. Thanks a bunch!