How to wear/match leather boots and office attire?
April 14, 2012 1:59 PM   Subscribe

Men clothing: How to wear/match leather boots and office attire?

I like really these boots here. How can I match it to office attire? Or is this a no-no? I work at a "young" start-up-like company, if it matters. I really like this type of boots!

Thank you, hivemind!
posted by helloworlditsme to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
What kind of office attire are we referring to here?

Business suits would look awful with those boots. Jeans could look ok if they were cut well. Khakis would be hard to pull off given the color of the boots.
posted by dfriedman at 2:07 PM on April 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


You could probably wear those with jeans or cords, and a sport coat, but no, those are not appropriate to wear with a suit.
posted by kellyblah at 2:08 PM on April 14, 2012


As long as you're not wearing a suit, you're fine. Chinos and an Oxford would be ideal. If you want to step it up a little, get rid of the factory distressing with some shoe polish.
posted by supercres at 2:08 PM on April 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


Sorry, I just do not think so. To wear those in an office is an affectation unless the office is very casual and/or has an industrial/agricultural/outdoor orientation.
posted by rmhsinc at 2:13 PM on April 14, 2012


If you want a boot that's similar but dressier and less outdoorsy, how about the Frye James Lace-Up?
posted by supercres at 2:16 PM on April 14, 2012 [3 favorites]


Those boots don't really go with any sort of office attire, even jeans. They are obviously styled as work boots. There are boots that are dress boots, but those aren't them.
posted by OmieWise at 2:25 PM on April 14, 2012 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Here are Red Wings with khakis -- "Navy blazer and khaki chinos are a pretty standard go-to outfit, but we mixed it up with some boots"; here they are with a cardigan, button-down, and possibly corduroys? I would take a pass on them if the latter look is too casual for your office, but if that is already standard attire I think you can do the boots. Just. Carefully. Here is a Dad with the boots and khakis, and while he looks like a nice Dad, it is a Dad look and the "American WWII chinos" read as Dockers and the result is not...well-styled. Compare and contrast those to here where they look endlessly better with jeans, and (although the reverse may be true) the end result seems like it took a lot less effort.

I would not try to neutral it up to detract from the ruddy copper colour, but go in the opposite direction and pair it with at least one other more aggressively coloured piece -- a cobalt shetland sweater or a kelly green button-down, something like that, so you would be overall non-drab instead of a guy with non-drab shoes.

The super-skinny cargos here are probably a little too fashion-victim outside of offices that are not actually GQ offices. Looking at that you wonder how comfortable sitting down was. How fashionable are your co-workers?
posted by kmennie at 2:45 PM on April 14, 2012


Those boots would look ridiculous with any sort of office attire, including that pictures in kmennie's links.
posted by Justinian at 5:50 PM on April 14, 2012 [3 favorites]


I think you could wear those boots with some types of khakis, the more casual low-cut, non-pleated type, assuming their particular shades didn't clash.

But they're probably a bit too rugged and chunky to go with dressier office attire. Not that boots on the whole are bad. They do make dress boots that are a bit more sleek.
posted by Hither at 9:39 PM on April 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


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