Is There Still a Rule Against Wearing Brown Shoes With Blue Pants?

Our fashion critic discusses the evolution of dress codes, including how rules — like one discouraging brown shoes with blue or black trousers — can come in and out of favor.

During the 12 years I lived in London, there was one rule my banker friends would often recite to me: “No brown in town,” meaning no brown shoes at work. It’s an axiom that originated circa the Victorian era, when gentlemen spent their weekends hunting and otherwise marching over the vales of their country estates in — yup — brown shoes and boots to match the brown mud.

When they returned to their offices during the week, they swapped brown shoes for polished black, matching their belts and shoes, the better to continue the unbroken line of their suits — and denoting their white-collar status. The appearance of brown shoes in town thus became a statement about class as well as country, given that other nationalities, especially the Italians and the French, never hewed to quite the same dress code.

Like most erstwhile dress codes, however, this one has pretty much fallen by the wayside, a victim of the casual Friday-ization of every day and the demise of the suit and tie. After all, when your jacket and trousers no longer match, it’s less of a big deal when your shoes don’t match either. In fact, it kind of makes sense, especially if the vibe you are going for is relaxed.

Compared with the rise of the sneaker as dress shoe — and not only the sneaker, but the really weird Frankenstein sneaker — brown shoes can look not shocking, but rather establishment.

Since the men’s wear shows are going on in Paris as I write, I thought I would ask our man on the scene, Jacob Gallagher, what he is seeing.

“A lot of what once would have been a ‘wrong’ pairing,’” he responded. “Like black overcoats with blue chinos and brown shoes. These combos are now acceptable because they make you look twice, but they aren’t really that garish.”