ManFashion Interlude: SHOD

Historically, I have purchased shoes for comfort first, fashion second. Not a bad philosophy, but comfort and fashion do not need to be mutually exclusive. Ideally, shoes should be both fashionable and comfortable.

Guys, if this hasn’t sunk in yet, the ladies do check out your shoes and judge you. Sally even has an ex-boyfriend whose nickname is “Bad Shoes.” Think about that when you buy your next pair of generic loafers, Crappy Loafer Boy!

One of the advantages of living with a wife who writes a fashion blog is that I get to learn a thing or two. The first shoe lesson I learned was that shoes by John Fluevog are well made, comfortable, and stylish. The second thing I learned is that they cost over $100. I never knew shoes could cost over $100. However, I’m sure I’ll be passing along my Angel wing-tipped Fluevog combat boots to some teenage grand-nephew 40 years from now …

My Fluevogs are awesome, but except for a few interesting details, they (and most other man-shoe options) are pretty standard-looking. Where are the truly unique man-shoes hiding? Many of them are hiding at www.cydwoq.com. (Go there now and come back. I’ll wait. You need to see the options for man-shoes at Cydwoq before this discussion continues.)

As far as I know, Cydwoq shoes for men are not sold in stores in Minneapolis, Chicago, or Madison. I know. I’ve looked. I found a store in San Francisco that sold them, but they were closed and it was the last day of my vacation.

I found them in Milwaukee at an awesome store called Shoo. Everything in this store was interesting-looking, both for men and women. Kate – the helpful and enthusiastic shop owner – immediately noticed the Fluevogs that I was wearing, and I believe they were my pass into the secret club where I would be shown other cool shoes. Shoo carried two styles of short Cydwoq boots I had been looking for. I bought the Detect.

You can see in the composite image that these are versatile and handsome shoes. Check me out. Here I am right out of the shower brushing my teeth, weighing the cat, checking my blood pressure, sniffin’ the milk after a hard bike ride, and sitting on the stoop wondering where my glasses are. You can do anything in these shoes. They are just that comfortable. There is something about a steel plate in a sole that is happy-making for the feet.

(Click image to enlarge)
~Teeth brushing, cat weighing, blood pressure taking, milk sniffing, stoop sitting~

But are these shoes also fashionable? All I know is that I am at work for less than 10 minutes before a female coworker spots them from across the room and says, “I don’t know if I can say this to a guy a work, but I’m gonna say it: Those shoes are CUTE!” I told her the word she was looking for was, “Awesome,” but I’d take cute.

The Detect are kind of Hobbit-like in their design, which I also think is cool, but they certainly won’t be for everybody. Here is another lesson I learned: Hand-made, artistically-designed, guaranteed-to-last shoes can cost $295! That’s a tough lesson to learn, but these lessons get easier. Trust me.

I’ll close by saying that if you are ready for a nick name other than Crappy Loafer Boy, find your most stylish lady friend or man friend and have her/him take you where the cool shoes can be found (perhaps to Shoo if you are near Milwaukee). Comfortable and fashionable can be found in the same shoe, and you’ll be a happy guy when you find it.

Husband Mike is a regular contributor to Already Pretty, and to Sal’s style.