Wear Shoes That Make Your Suit Look Better

Chris, a light brown or black will look very nice with your tuxedo, we’d go with the former first.

We’d still roll with a black or dark belt, but for shoes, you could spice up your dress shoes by going with an oxblood. The color dynamic will keep your shoes as the unique flair while also commanding respect above the feet too.

Brown, baby! Light brown specifically.

Hey Logan! Congratulations first off. Next, we, unfortunately, have to let you down and say you’ll need to go with a black shoe here. We could try to make it work, but this is your big day, so you should really nail it. These shoes would be perfect, or something similar. If you have any other questions, please let us know!

Depends on the rest of your getup, but most likely a variation of brown!

Hey Taylor! You’re right in thinking that a navy 3-piece pinstripe suit + brogues might be a bit too much. When it comes to big patterns like a pinstripe, let the focus be on the suit itself and keep the shoes simple. Your cognac wingtip brogues will be great paired with a pattern that is a bit more simplified. The council has spoken!

Hey Brendan! First off, congratulations! We hope you’re excited for your big day. As far as your question goes, we’d suggest you choose a darker brown shoe to create contrast between the shoes and the lighter suit color (assuming it’s a mid gray as you said) and also since burgundy is on the dark end of the color wheel (even if it’s a lighter shade). Another good way to indicate the shade of shoe is to look at your suit jacket buttons (if they’re brown).

Hope this helps! Reach out if you need clarification!

Jose,

To be honest, a light gray tie such as that on the model is a great choice with a light blue suit, or you can work in a darker blue tie which also creates a nice contrast. It is a great way to add contrast and pairs well with light brown shoes as we suggest. As far as choosing a belt, it’s always a good (and easy) idea to pair the belt to your shoes, so, a light brown leather belt would round this outfit out well.

Leo,

Sounds like a potentially stellar look! More men should wear pink, it’s a good combo! With the shoes, we would suggest you stick to a more conservative black shoe. You don’t want to overdo it, especially when you want the attention focused on your pink shirt and tie.

That’s a safe move. Just make sure any other leather in your outfit is brown, too.

Certainly. Take note of how we’ve styled our own deep purple/burgundy suit here: https://blacklapel.com/shop/suits/deep-burgundy-saxony-custom-suit/

Blue dress shoes are tough to pull off, so we recommend a pair of navy suede or leather dress shoes. You can pair blue dress shoes with a dark brown suit, like this one, or a blue suit that offers some contrast against the color of the suit (this is harder to pull off). As for your question about wearing brown shoes with a gray suit, those will look better with a either shade of gray suit that you mentioned.

You could get away with dark brown leather dress shoes here. However, if you’re trying to look more interesting for your friend’s party, you might want to direct your attention to your suit and tie combination instead of your shoes. This outfit sounds more like something we’d recommend to an interview so, depending on the context surrounding the party, have a little more fun with it. That could mean: going sans tie or wearing a bow tie, wearing a patterned dress shirt, adding a exciting pocket square to the jacket, etc. Loosen up!

That upper body stuff really makes little difference when it comes to your shoes, but since that’s all we’ve got to work with, we recommend you take a look at the buttons on that waistcoat and pair the shoes to them. If the buttons are dark brown, dark brown shoes will generally work. If they’re light brown, lighter brown shoes ought to do the trick. Black buttons? Try black shoes.

The key word here, Nicc, is tuxedo. When you’re wearing a black tie outfit (usually a tuxedo) you’re playing by a certain set of rules that are pretty strict but quite straightforward. For the most part, when you’re in black tie means you should wear black shoes.

The other part of the question was about the belt, but tuxedos should not be worn with belts. This is such a hard and fast rule that a proper pair or formal tuxedo pants don’t come with belt loops. Still, this is a black tie rule that plenty of ornery commenters on this very site love to argue with us about, so to head it off at the pass we’ll point to the folks at GQ who say “no belt loops!” or Art of Manliness who say tuxedo pants “will be worn with suspenders (‘braces’ in the UK), and should not have belt loops, ” or any number of other black tie experts. Suffice it to say, we don’t make the rules, we’re just reporting them.

Now get out there and knock ’em dead, Nicc.

That’s an easy one…never wear a tuxedo with brown shoes. Black shoes are the norm. With a blue tux, blue shoes can work, but that’s it. Brown is definitely a no-no with a tux.