Returning to Cool, in Pointy-Toed Shoes - NYTimes article on pointy-toed men's shoes

[DosViolines]

source: nytimes.com

Returning to Cool, in Pointy-Toed Shoes

Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House
Detailed leather winkle-pickers by George Cox, $150 at Trash and Vaudeville. Acne jeans at Jeffrey; 1950’s vintage jacket at Barneys New York. T-shirt at American Apparel.


By DAVID COLMAN
Published: September 29, 2005


IF you can afford but one pair of shoes this season, do yourself a favor: do not buy any of those on this page.

It just does not make good sense. We're talking about a style of shoe that is, after all, synonymous with bad taste. Pointy-toed shoes have popped up for a few seasons now, but they are still too fast, too redolent of 1970's blaxploitation movies to have really caught fire at Prada or Gucci, much less at Florsheim or Payless ShoeSource. Even style arbiters like Jeffrey Kalinsky, the founder of the Manhattan hipster boutique Jeffrey, said he will not be sporting a pair any day soon.

But pointy-toed shoes are here, in all their mod-cum-rockabilly, New Wave glory. At Dolce & Gabbana they come in gloriously trashy materials like red eelskin, tan snakeskin and brown lizard; at Miu Miu, in weathered brown calf and faux croc; at Dior, in glossy black leather; and at A. Testoni, in tooled taupe calf. If you go for them, be warned: acquaintances will raise their eyebrows; friends will compliment you, lying; good friends will rib you ceaselessly.

What can you say? Jealousy is so unattractive. In a day when perfectly tasteful men's shoes are so much the norm, available nationwide at Banana Republic and J. Crew and at once-fusty cobblers like Church's English Shoes, it takes guts to take a step, much less a walk, on the wilder side. But for a stylish guy who wants his feet, at least, to live dangerously, pointy-toed shoes cross the line like no other, recalling 60's lounge lizards who lived for looks.

They are quite the contrast to the rumpled and unshaven cool that fashion has perfected of late. "It's not a shoe that people find by happenstance; it's very conscious," said Geordon Nicol, a host of MisShapes, the so-hip-it-hurts Saturday club night at Luke & Leroy in the West Village (where, earlier this year, the fashion designer Hedi Slimane showed up to D.J. in his Dior Homme pointy-toed boots).

Mr. Nicol means what he says: he has 12 pairs of pointy shoes. "People who wear them are very, very conscious of their own personal style," he said. "The shoes really complete a look." That look, in his case, includes a rail-thin frame and clothes to match. "The pointy shoe brings it all together at the bottom, where a round-toed shoe looks dumpy and dowdy and just wrong," he said.

Mr. Nicol's shoes come from the British shoemakers George Cox and Underground Shoes, which are sold at Trash and Vaudeville in the East Village, where pointy shoes and stovepipe jeans have been a staple since the late 70's heyday of the Ramones.

Jimmy Webb, the store's buyer and manager, reported that the style has picked up steam again, rediscovered by indie rockers who want the most attitude for the least money, about $150 a pair. "I can't keep them in stock," he said. "I sell 15 to 30 pair a week."

And why not? If you have a slim-fitting sharkskin suit (they come in seven colors at www.merc-clothing.com in London) or the perfect rockabilly jacket and trousers, pointed shoes are the coup de grâce.

But if you are just dressing to go out - not out on stage - a pointed toe brings a suavely stylish edge to an understated look. For example, a crisp white T-shirt and old Levi's 501's suddenly looks hip with a pair of brown lizard roach crushers from Dolce & Gabbana. Sensible? No. Supercool? Yes.

"The rest of the outfit doesn't have to match," Bruce Pask, the style director of Cargo magazine, said. "The whole point is that the shoes are all you need. That's what gives it the edginess, like you amped it up a little bit, but not too much."

They are not all-powerful: a slouchy worsted suit or baggy cargo pants will look frumpy against the shoe's sharp edge. Similarly, showily distressed jeans or an excess of jewelry will only blunt their neat point.

Given the wealth of cool connotations the shoes evoke, from the Rat Pack and rockabilly scenes of the late 50's to the New Romantics of the early 80's, their appeal is both tasteless and timeless - and now timely. Designers like Raf Simons, Neil Barrett and Mr. Slimane made nods to mod and rockabilly looks in their spring collections, and skinny stovepipe jeans appear to be the next wave. A smart pair of pointy-toed shoes could well outlast any ribbing you get for wearing them.

So if mortified, amortize.

More images from article

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Leather boots by Dior Homme, $685 at Jeffrey. Martin Margiela formal-wear trousers at Bergdorf Goodman.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Weathered calf monk-strap shoes at Miu Miu, $515. Neil Barrett velveteen trousers at Barneys.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Calfskin laceups from A. Testoni, $655 at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. Martin Margiela boot-cut trousers at Bergdorf.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Stamped python-print loafers by Donald J. Pliner, $310 at Saks Fifth Avenue. Kris Van Assche wool trousers at Jeffrey.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Joe M. Nitzberg for The New York Times; photographed at Strip House[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Lizard roach killers by Dolce & Gabbana, $750 at Saks. Romeo Gigli sharkskin suit from eBay.[/size][/font]

 

[battles]

see the last part?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]Romeo Gigli sharkskin suit from eBay.[/size]

[/font]

looks like ebay had officially become a fashion store now.

anyways, i've been doing this over the years and most of my leather shoes/boots are pointy, except that none of them are d&g.

 

[Meg]

I find pointy toed shoes on men, quite tired to be honest. Prefer a sort of blunt toed shoe now.

 

[battles]

/\ yeap, they've got to be lace-ups though.

 

[faust]

I hate pointy toe shoes on men (and on women, really) with a passion. I only see slick italian playboy types wearing them, and those really are the most pathetic sort of men I've ever encountered.

 

[Erin]

I don't really care either way about pointy-toed shoes for men, but I do have to say that those white shoes are quite hurtful for the eyes.

 

[The Baron]

I'm not a big fan of the point, myself. I think it looks best on boots. But even there I like it to be subtle.

I have a pair of black Costume National ankle boots with a pointed toe, but I have a narrow-ish foot so I wear them 3 sizes smaller than my usual shoe size, so the point is just a nice elegant line instead of an outlandish clown-shoe appendage.

On shoes, I don't mind that sort of "squared-off point" look...the ones where it could have gone pointy but is snubbed off halfway between geezer-blunt and fashion-victim-sharp. But the full pointy toe is just a bit much for my taste.

 

[hanlee]

I don't really like pointy-toed shoes on men, maybe cowboy boots.

 

[toddiot]

The first picture is cool, except for the shoes. It goes from casual to Italian business-meeting really fast, I don't think it works.

 

[saann]

I don't like these kind of shoes on men

 

[TakeNotice]

depending on the style I like the look. chain stores like Aldo have carried em for years.

 

[SirSunday]

I prefer the pointy toe over the clunky squared end. Sure, the pointed shoes tend to be a bit narrower in the vamp and can hurt like heck at the arch...but they create an appealing line when paired with the right length hem. And appearance is more important than comfort, right?

 

[John_M.]

Okay. For my brother's wedding last year in November, my stepfather took me shopping for some formal shoes. My stepfather really likes Stacy Adams footwear as far as formal shoes go. I personally wouldn't wear pointy-toed shoes (not even if I were a lady), but there seems to be something about these men's pointy toes that usually look better than most women's pointy-toe shoes. There is a girl at my community college who usually wears pointy-toed high-heel pumps. Her standard attire is either a lovely blouse or a stylish dress shirt on top. In the case of a dress shirt, it's usually common to tuck it into pants, and she wears some pretty stylish dress slacks. She loves fashion, and it shows. Anyhow, I think the combination of her office-appropriate attire is very fitting for pointy-toed pumps. She pulls it off quite well to me. She has about three different pointy-toed pumps in three different colors- black, brown, and red.

What I was trying to bring up in my story is that pointy-toed shoes serve no fashionable purpose unless you're sporting some amazing clothing to compliment a dressy pair of pointy-toed shoes. I've never truly hated pointy-toe shoes. I personally prefer round-toe shoes, perhaps even some cute round-toe pumps with a cute little bow design up around the toe area for ladies. I've seen some pretty nice pointy-toed dress shoes for men. When I was thinking of what classy shoes I wanted to wear, I even thought about a nice pair of slip-on shoes. However, I don't really have a heel to express. But for the most part, I think these pointy-toed men's shoes look great. A nice way to look classy at work or at a party or whatever. Can't really go wrong, guys.

 

[coinoperatedboy]

Ok I was thinking i would open this thread and it would be about winklepicker style pointed shoes which i dont mind as long as its convincing (this is far and few!). These shoes from the article dont look as pointy as a winklepickers and aesthetically i think they are still off but hey, boys need options

 

[Street_a_Licious]

the Testoni's are the only normal ones. and besides, this was 3 years ago. THREE YEARS!

 

[softgrey]

i know....


this thread weirdly comes up and gets revived every once in awhile...
but it's like people don't even realize that it is about a 'trend' (which by definition means it has a limited lifespan) that was from 2005...


...

 

[jwarri5]

I'm going to go with New York times...away with the pointy shoes...Blunt toed shoes are in my favor and in my closet...