Shoes are a funny thing......like most things, especially in clothing, fashion, style or whatever you want to call it, they change. There are always fads, trends, styles that are the next big thing and then one season later, they are nowhere to be found, dead, lost in a sea of rubbish that is manipulated year after year by people who claim to be style or marketing experts and tell us what is 'in' or 'cool'. But are they really??? Some are yes, but many aren't. And I guess this is the reason that they fade out and disappear, never to be thought of again until they come back 30 years later in the recycling of fashion due to the change of the times and minds of the youth. But there are articles of clothing that seem to stand the test of time, and year after year without fail, be purchased as if they were the next big thing, yet in reality are older than dirt, only to be changed by shape. In shoes, that article is the black cap-toe.
Yet why is the black cap-toe so timeless? Sure, there are many obvious reasons (at least one would think), but when you really think about these reasons, I don't feel that they present a factual argument, but rather a subjective one that somehow became integrated into the minds of men, forever to be seen as truth. One example would be, that black goes with everything. Now I don't believe this statement for one second. Black, albeit an easy color to work with, does not, in fact, go with everything. You might think it does, and therefore put it with everything, but it in many cases actually dulls down a lot of outfits. But I guess that when you think about it, it's the lesser of the evils. What I mean by that is when you pair black, with say brown, and it does not look right, it's far less obvious and ostentatious then getting the match between lime green and brown wrong. That lime green is going to stand out like a sore thumb and make people stare at you. But if you were to wear a brown suit and have black shoes on, it would not be so noticeable, even though I would dare to say that it would be a very clashing thing to look at. But because of the fact that is is not as noticeable, it becomes 'safe.'
Another interesting thing about black, is that it takes the best shine. This is strange to me, because it's the color with the least amount of depth to it. Brown, for example, has like 9 million different shades, yet black only has one. But now that I think about it, that seems to be the actual reason that when you shine a black shoe, to a mirror like standard, it's contrast to the leather around is far more noticeable than on any other color, because of it's lack of depth. There is just black. So therefore, you get black and then patent-like black and difference presents such a strong contrast to each other. But because of that, it also (at least in my mind) looks the best when shined. And I believe that this is why it's the best color for formal occasions, and precisely why patent is generally regarded as the most formal material: because of that shine.
And while I could probably go on and on about why I might hate or love black shoes, I cannot deny the fact that they will simply never be a fad, trend, blip on the scale of styles but rather maintain their position as the shoe at the top of the food chain, forever sought after by businessmen, bartenders, church men, common men, young men, old men, pretty much EVERY MAN, simply because it's fail proof!
Shoe By: Saion
