Boat Shoes

Photos by Salt Water New England

Men's Shoes

Yale Glee Club Director Fenno Heath (Fenno Follansbee Heath, Director from 1953 to 1992) -  Original Photograph from Archives

What should I wear, do, and bring when invited to go sailing or boating?

Photos by Salt Water New England

 What should I wear, bring, and know when invited to go sailing?

Know before:

• When and where to meet.
• The name of the boat.
• Who will bring the food.
• How many people are with you.  Do not show up with more people than were invited.

Wear:

Which shoes can be worn sockless, and when?

 

The well known Anonymous has already posed this question, and I agree that it merits its own discussion.  How does your devoted and knowledgeable readership apply its sensibility to the matter of wearing shoes without socks?  

My own approach is that as shoes descend through various levels of formality, both their own intrinsic formality and the formality of the clothes with which they are worn, it changes.  I shall assume no one goes without socks when wearing any laced leather shoes. 

• Cordovan tassel loafers are always worn with a jacket and tie and, despite being loafers, are worn with socks.  

• Leisure handsewns are often worn without socks with khakis, cords, or reds, and socks are optional unless there a coat and tie are involved. When they are worn with shorts, LHS are worn without socks.  

• Bluchers, boat shoes, and other similar moccasins are reserved for casual wear, and the same principles that are applied to LHS work well with the caveat that the question of going sockless with any of them when wearing a coat and tie should arise only if you are that character who wears his poplin suit, bucket hat, OCBD, and repp tie with his bluchers simply because it is his nature.  He wears socks.  

In the realm of even more casual footwear such as athletic shoes and sandals, things become more, not less, complicated. 

• For things like tennis or golf, wear socks.  For running, they are optional, but you are required to keep your running shoes clean.  

• For sandals, socks are just wrong.  

• For Crocs you should wear a sheepish and apologetic smile and stay behind the hydrangeas in your own yard.  

I know I am very opinionated on these matters, but I will not so much as snicker or raise an eyebrow if you have a different approach.  

With kindest regards, Vecchio Vespa

 

 

 

Washington Post: How to buy a well-made shoe

 Thoughts on buying a well-made shoe in today's Washington Post: 

Shoes have three basic elements: the sole, which touches the ground; the insole, which you step in; and the upper, which is the part that wraps around your foot. How these elements are held together has a big influence on how the shoe will perform. Glue is a cheaper and easier method than stitching, but it also comes apart more easily, especially when exposed to high heat...

Higher-quality men’s dress shoes are often stitched together with the Goodyear welt. This method allows a pair of shoes to be resoled multiple times without damaging the upper portion of the shoes... 

Another method, the Blake stitch, uses a special machine to stitch the upper and lining straight through the sole. These may be a bit easier to break in, but they won’t be quite as water-resistant... 

[T]aking good care of them will make them last much longer... Condition the leather to keep it supple, place cedar shoe trees in shoes to absorb moisture, and take shoes to a cobbler when you see signs of wear. 

- <https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/09/08/how-to-buy-a-well-made-shoe/>

The Lifecycle of Preppy Companies

Chart Designed by Salt Water New England

Birkenstocks

Photos by Salt Water New Engalnd

In the latest issues of New York Magazine:

"Birkenstock has seen a huge resurgence in the past few years."

Boat Shoes | Men's Boat Shoes from Dubarry of Ireland

Men's Regatta Boat Shoe made of their DryFast-DrySoft Nubuck Leather - Photos by Salt Water New England

 Dubarry of Ireland is well known and respected for their beautifully made Country Boots and Sailing Boots, and they apply the same high standards and thoughtful details to their classic Boat Shoes.  Also made in Portugal, they come in a wide variety of styles for both Men and Women and feature their NonSlip-NonMarking rubber soles.

• Men's Regatta Boat Shoe - Brown <https://www.dubarry.com/us/men/footwear/boat-shoes/regatta-boat-shoe-brown>

Mentioned in comments:

• Commodore XLT Boat Shoe - Chestnut <https://www.dubarry.com/us/men/footwear/boat-shoes/commodore-xlt-boat-shoe-chestnut>

Trips to UK and Europe | What to Pack for a 12 Day Trip, Including London, Scotland, Rural England, and Paris?

Paris, Late 1970s.  Original Photograph from Archives

Enjoy your blog. I have been a fan for many years. A question for the community: what to pack for a 12 day trip? London, Scotland, Rural England, Paris. I am not a sporting person - prefer museums and wandering. We like classic things. I always pack too much. Very curious as to what the community would recommend. I always find our shoes to be very important -- happy feet = happy travelers.

Question: To Which Clothing Brands and Stores are You Loyal?

One measurement for the health of companies is their brand loyalty, that ineffable combination of consumer habit, trust, even enthusiasm and self-identity.  Companies that value brand loyalty re-invest in it through improving quality, as well as trying to better understand their customers' needs and wants, and then providing products that better meet these needs.  Their new products cause excitement.

However brand loyalty has frayed.  This may be in part to companies losing contact with their customers, as when box stores and now online stores know more about buyers than the vendors themselves.  But also many companies have used brand loyalty against their customers.  Apple continues to raise prices on new iPhones, just as Gillette has done for decades on razor blades.  Some clothing companies that grew based on their (loudly touted) "Made in America" production have shifted to low-cost/offshore mega-factories, hoping no one noticed, or in other ways undermined their own production standards.  Globalization has created markets, less for fabulous items and more for vast quantities of good enough products ruthlessly marketed, easily bought, cost effective, and quickly shipped.   And companies with vast PR budgets have been able to simulate the social media enthusiasm that was once the reward of actual great products.   And, some past great brands have simply petered out, often the cumulative effect of dozens of bad decisions.

However, their is still the opportunity for great companies to flourish.  Given that, a question for the community:

To which clothing brands and stores are you loyal?

Some brands mentioned (with links):

• Mercer Shirts (OCBDs)
• Porthault (handkerchiefs, which sounds ridiculously indulgent, but it’s not)
• Tory's Jewelry
• Patsy Kane
• Quoddy (casual footwear)
• Pringle cardigans
• Cordings (Outerwear, Tweed and suits, Casual trousers, Polo shirts, Socks, headwear )
• Bates and James Lock (headwear)
• Oliver Brown (Casual trousers)
• Darn Tough socks
• Sunspel (Polo shirts - The quality and fit is much better than PRL or Gant!)
• Eric Javits (winter berets and buckets, summer sun hats)
• Kamakura Shirts. (OCBDs)
• Longchamp (le pliage bags for almost anywhere)
• Bills Khakis (chinos and polos)
• Uniqlo Cashmere (Heattech and AIRism undergarments)
• Wolford (hoisery)
• Tricker's (footwear)
• Vilebrequin Moorea Swim Trunks
• Vermont Originals Earflap Wool Caps
• Lawrence & Foster (caps)
• Olney (cotton hats - It's possible to buy Olney much cheaper (50% or more) from other stores.)
• Eileen Fisher (ballet-ballet-length dresses for anywhere)
• Pantherella (socks)
• John Smedley (Knitwear) 
• Breitling (watches)
• Alico hiking boots 
• Tilley hats
• Sole orthotic inserts
• Corgi (socks)
• E.Marinella (ties)
• Charles Tyrwhitt
• Great and British Knitwear
• Meindl hiking boots
• Rancourt
• Gill
• Taylor's of Old Bond Street (Shaving and grooming)
• Geo. Trumper (Shaving and grooming)
• DR Harris (Shaving and grooming)
• Fairway & Greene
• Peter Millar
• Tervis Tumblers (so long as they replace them when damaged)
• Mizuno  (Forged irons for golf)
• Turnbull & Asser (Shirts, ties and underwear)
• Barbour (Outerwear)
• Skida Hats
• Oak Street Bootmakers
• Title Nine (athletic apparel and bras - TMI)
• Smartwool Socks
• Subaru Cars
• Flint and Tinder
• Norlender sweaters
• Orvis (winter t-neck tops, cotton-gauze summer scarfs, Long Sleeve casual shirts, khakis)
• Alden shoes (Cordovans, In the future I want to purchase in person), (Specifically, The Shoemart in Norwalk, CT)
• Ferragamo (court shoes)
• Allen Edmunds (Spectators)
• Abeo Bio 
• Omega watches
• Crockett & Jones (footwear)
• Arcopedico 
• Pilot Varsity fountain pens
• Blundstone Boots
• Everlane 
• Boden (their children’s line must be woven with Teflon, my son couldn’t wear the stuff out and most is now on its third and fourth child.)
• Xtratuf  (outfitted my family on a lark after seeing what seemed like every dock and boat worker in Alaska wearing the boots. The first pair of boots my 13 yo actually wants to wear. )
• Stormy Kromer
• Longchamp Totes
• Sebago 
• Patagonia (outerwear)
• Dansko Clogs
• Boden Dresses
• Brooks Running
• Ben Silver
• Sperry's for deck shoes (the quality isn't there but I put mine through a lot and get new ones each year)
• Murray's for ACK Reds (even if the quality isn't what it once was, it’s still small enough for me to support them and better than the big brand imitators)
• Diamond Gusset jeans
• New Balance
• Bass
• Vineyard Vines
• Ralph Lauren
• Brooks Brothers (Made in America ties and suits, sweaters, coats, and Zac Posen designed dresses for events)
• Lacoste  (polo shirts)
• Carhartt 
• L.L. Bean (Bean boots, OCBD, occasionally khakis, polos, Gum Shoes, short sleeve casual shirts, tote bags, winter coats)
• Kmart Basic Editions Men's Button-Front Oxford Shirt
• J. McLaughlin
• JJill (black, flat-cut “wearever” tops and pull-on slacks, sleepwear)
• Eddie Bauer 
• Filson (home of L.L. Bean Signature alum Alex Carlton)
• J Press (for blazers and hangers, MTM dress shirts, blazers/suits, dress trousers, and sweaters)
• Lands' End (including for swim wear)

A Reader Question for the Community: What is the Shoe Equivalent of an Oxford Shirt?

A reader question:

Is there an equivalent to an OCBD in shoes? I mean a pair of shoes that could be said to be essential, multi-functional, capable of being dressed up or dressed down. I ask because it is not clear to me that any such shoes exist.

I suppose an easy answer would be to say loafers or moccasins, but these seem too lightweight. Can a person really walk all day, comfortably, on camp soles? Boots, on the other hand, seem too heavy. Then there are sneakers; and I confess to having worn sneakers for most of my life. But white-soled sneakers show dirt all too easily; not to mention that the bizarre designs of modern sneakers are, shall we say, difficult to integrate into traditional style.

Nantucket Reds

Photos by Salt Water New England

Reds

Reds, such as Nantucket Reds, are an iconic style and color of trousers (and now, shorts).  

The original Reds came from Brittany, France in the 1800s.  The sails of fishing boats were treated with reddish tannins from tree barks for mildew protection.  Remaining material was cut and sewn into work trousers for the fisherman, which became know as Breton Reds.  

Long before Murray's Nantucket Reds were invented, the red pants of choice of yachtsmen and crew, were of course the 'real' Breton Reds. Long ago I picked up a pair of these classic yachting pants while sailing the Channel Races. The pants, after a while, turned a fabulous washed out red that could only be achieved by being on the ocean (not counting the Nantucket fast ferry). They were soft, the right degree of "baggy" and worn by just about every blue water sailor. (Comment, skiwithapro)

Camp Mocs

 

Camp Mocs for Women and Men

Camp Mocs, short for Camp Moccasins, are a classic casual slip-on shoe for men and women.  Flattering and easier than boat shoes, they are perfect for business casual when new and for everyday wear when older.   They were invented by Leon L. Bean, and L.L. Bean first introduced these shoes in 1936.

With white soles, they can be worn on boat decks.   A red sole is a fine alternative for autumn.  They can be worn with or without socks.     

Best Tennis Shoes, Best Tennis Racquet?

Photo by Salt Water New England

A reader question:

I have a question for the community, Muffy.  I am in my early 20s and have been coaxed by my girlfriend to bang around tennis balls with her.  I have been athletic most of my life, but more in the team sports way.  What shoes and racquet should I make sure to look at it when I go shopping for them?  Is it best to shop at a pro shop or a chain or somewhere else?     
 

Reader Question: Best/Favorite Walking Shoes?

Photos by Salt Water New England

A Reader Question:

Would you please do a post on best/favorite walking shoes sometime?

Tennis Apparel and Shoes?

From a reader:

Having recently started playing tennis again after over two decades away from the game, I'm wondering what are the best current brands for tennis apparel and shoes, specifically tennis whites? Thanks!

 

In Case You Missed It

 

With the Louvre closed because of the pandemic, museum officials are pushing ahead on a grand restoration and cleanup....  Even before the pandemic, the Louvre was taking a hard look at crowd management because mass tourism had meant many galleries were choked with tour groups. 

- NYT: Mona Lisa Is Alone, but Still Smiling <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/world/europe/louvre-coronavirus.html>

 

Tricker's English Shoes:  <https://www.trickers.com/>

At Tricker’s, a 192 year-old maker of English luxury shoes beloved by Prince Charles and Japanese fashionistas, relief at averting a no-deal Brexit quickly turned to dismay at the new price of doing business with the European Union.

- Reuters: Historic English shoe-maker counts the costs of Brexit <https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-exporters/historic-english-shoe-maker-counts-the-costs-of-brexit-idUSKBN29V1B5 

 

More carats and sparkle: How LVMH plans to change Tiffany.

- Reuters <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lvmh-tiffany-changes-focus/more-carats-and-sparkle-how-lvmh-plans-to-change-tiffany-idUSKBN29V0JH>

 

Fashion Nova’s Secret: Underpaid Workers in Los Angeles Factories.  The online retailer makes fast fashion for the Instagram elite. The way many of its garments are made is much less glamorous.

- NYT <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/business/fashion-nova-underpaid-workers.html>

 

Consider creating a... well-curated collection of the basics... This concept involves buying higher-quality, more sustainable and, yes, probably more expensive items that will last longer. 

- Washington Post <https://www.washingtonpost.com/road-to-recovery/now-is-the-perfect-time-to-rethink-your-wardrobe-with-an-eye-toward-sustainability/2021/01/25/8895ff1c-542a-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html>

Bluchers

Photos by Salt Water New England

Bluchers are a style of shoe that features an open lacing system, including an upper made from one piece of leather.  Four eyelets are preferable.

Bluchers are named after an 18th century Prussian general, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who ordered a new design of boot that became the modern blucher.

The blucher may be the perfect year-round shoe.  It initially can be used for business casual, but has a long life in different roles as miles are heaped upon it, including sockless during the summer.  It is the shoe equivalent of the (unironed) Oxford shirt.

As with boat shoes, camp mocs, and snaffle bits, and unlike other dressier shoes, bluchers are perfect for wearing sockless in the warmer weather. 

Ferd Week: Ferd on Southern Preps (and Everything Else)

Ferd Week continues with a comment left by Ferd, December, 2012,  on the post, "Can you still be preppy if you......"

To our Southern friends,

Frat boys at Alabama football games in bow ties or, for that matter, anything aspirational in the South is simply a vulgarization of prep. Among the many appropriate attributes of pure prep is family history with Abolition in New England. It would be akin to calling a Russian in a Barbour a 'Brit" to calling one of these Southern gentlemen a prep. Any while we are on the subject, wearing Southern Tide or some other bastardization of pure prep clothing doesn't mean anything for your cause. 

Ferd's response to comments:

After reading all of the remarks and reflections upon my historical inaccuracies and apparent lack of good taste, I am reminded of Oscar Wilde's take on enemies.

He observed "I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects."

Accordingly, since it is so obviously clear that I have no enemies among you all (did I spell that correctly) permit me instead to thank all for their kind words.

Anent earlier remarks regarding Northern ante-bellum history I am astonished that none of my professors at Yale College or Princeton Graduate School (BA History; MA and PhD History) failed to mention any of this! I suppose I will revert and send my annual contributions to my prep school instead. Oh, the humanity!

And Ferd's response to responses on Ferd's response to comments: 

Unaccustomed as I am to being a flagellant, it is with slight personal distress that I now venture once again into Muffy World.

Folks, you can't "be" a prep anymore than you can be a fire truck. To be, or not to be, is not your choice. The simple truth is that prep is a vicious intersection accident of breeding, birth place, wealth or former wealth and white Protestantism. If you are Asian, or African, Southern or Californian, Irish, French or Penguin you can't "be" prep no matter how many Land Rovers, Barbours and Alden full strap shoes you purchase. You are all poseurs. Look it up on line.

If you live on the Main Line your accent outs you. No true prep would host an OOOlive in her Martini, go hOOOOOme after golf or, God Forbid, approach such unrefined vacation spots as Avalon or Pocono Lake Preserve. Nobody who lives near Philadelphia is prep, sorry to burst your cheesesteak bubble. Being unusually vapid does not gain entrance to true prep, and there is no exit ramp from the PA Turnpike.

I believe that I have previously dispensed with you Southerns, but I am compelled to share just one more observation from that pinnacle of prep Winnie Churchill who observed that truth is something people occasionally stumble upon, ignore and than move on with their self-deceiving lives. Consider my earlier remarks your dose of truth.

So, as my final pearls before swine, listen up. If you read about, write about or think about what clothing, car, vacation spot, make up or underwear you own or want you can never be prep. To prep, these matters are effortlessly achieved without thought or choice. You may be whatever else you are, but you are not, inexpressively not, prep.

What's that I hear, I think someone is calling you about watching Alabama Spring Practice football over Mint Julies! Enjoy! 

And Ferd's response to responses on Ferd's response to responses on Ferd's response to comments:  

Sigh. One of the many tasks asked of us at prep school was to pay attention. [...], I did not ask you to look up the geographic relation of New England to prep. Instead, should you have the attention span necessary to do so, I asked you to look up the word 'poseur'. Res ipse.

As for [...] and the most recent anonymous genius, your enthusiasm dispels any possibility that you are prep or that you would recognize prep if it punched you in the nose. Writing of prep and Islam in the paragraph is heretical; writing these words in the same sentence is profoundly ignorant. And you know what they say about ignorance. Other than hydrogen, ignorance is the most common substance in the universe.

As for Southern schools of any type, the concept of prep is dead on arrival. There is an abiding indolence, a casual insouciance about Southern life that dissembles in the presence of pure prep. Perhaps more importantly, it is virtually impossible to wear sweaters in June in Georgia. One is reminded of a recent headmaster at Hotchiss who would attend pre-season football games in September in heavy corduroys, a Bean cotton turtleneck, a Shaggy Dog and Bean shoes (without chain tread, of course). He never broke out a sweat. Can one imagine this taking place in South Carolina? Preps not only do not sweat, they do not place themselves in environments where such inappropriate behavior might occur.

Won’t you all please just leave Muffy and I alone?

And finally...

Dear [...], 

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. I am spineless. I admit to nothing and deny everything. Besides, grammer is the slang of prigs who write blogs and other useless essays (excuse me George Eliot) ([...], you will have to look up George Eliot for I am certain that her name was not mentioned in any Southern finishing school).

This back and forth is like a high school reunion, such as I might imagine one to be. It is brutally boring.

But, in closing for the year (sorry fans of Ferd) just one more truth. Ivy League schools are the Antithesis of Prep, the anti-Christo if you will. It should surprise none that recent Yale undergraduates' effort to humilate their Harvard contemporaries included a video of two anxious Harvard freshman reading a blog entitled "How to Date [...]Women". I am not entirely happy sharing the following with all you Philistines but there remain only three institutions of higher learning on earth that are true prep. (Sorry, St. Lawrence, I said true prep not incrediably dumb, rich, drunk graduates of third rate boarding and day schools). They are, in no particular order of prepness: Bowdoin, Colby and Williams. I was tempted to include Amherst, but then there are problems there, aren't there? All other 'schools' are far too, how does one say this nicely, mainstreamed to be prep. If you are prep, you ain't goin to Brown any more, believe me. 

 

How do you organize your clothes?

 

 A reader question:

Would it be too pedestrian to request a post about organizing clothes. I wouldn't say I have very many clothes yet my closet always defeats me.

 

Others have also asked similar questions around organizing their clothes.  How can it be done around specific items—sweaters, suits,  ties,  shoes,  shirts,   trousers—or is it better done around categories such as casual and work?