Loafing

I've realized that those of you who stop by to see what I have to say about clothes and stuff have quite possibly been a little bored lately, what with all my going on about my impending iPhone, griping about nice weather, etc. Fair enough...

I have days when I just can't decide which shoes to wear. This happens at least once a week, and it usually coincides with being in a hurry to finish getting dressed. Since the shoes one chooses to wear on a given day tend to determine the belt one wears, and to some extent what outerwear (this may just be my own neurosis, but I can't leave the house wearing sneakers if I'm also wearing a hip-length coat), the choice of shoes is fairly important.

On such indecisive days, I tend to fall back on penny loafers, of which I have several pairs. This is partly due to the fact that they slip on quickly and easily, with no bending and tying. Also, they go well with most of the stuff I wear, which makes the other decisions easier.

The term "penny loafer" tends to apply to a few different styles of shoe. It typically has a strap with a cutout; back in the late 1950s, when my parents were in high school, people actually put pennies in the slots, but that's best left to the kids. The strap may be attached to the sides of the shoe, it may extend all the way to the bottom of the upper on both sides (sometimes called a "full-strap"), or there may be stitched rolls of leather at either end (called a "beefroll"). A loafer with no strap is called a Venetian.

I find Venetians too plain-looking, like they're unfinished. I don't like beefrolls either. A full-strap loafer can be all right, but I prefer the classic flat-strap penny. (I'm not going to discuss tassel loafers, because I happen to believe that tassels do not belong on a man's shoes. If you like them, fine; I can't abide them.)

Bass Weejuns are the iconic penny loafers. "Weejuns" is a contraction of "Norwegians" because G.H. Bass had seen Norwegian farmers wearing similar shoes and borrowed the design from them. I own one pair of Weejuns at the moment, the "Logan" in tan leather with cream contrast stitching. My other penny loafers are other brands, because the leather on the Logan in black or burgundy is too glossy.

But Bass has other styles of Weejuns now, in different leathers. The "Longwood" is a standard flat-strap penny very much like the Logan, but made in a matte calf leather. (It's also available in black, but I guess Zappos isn't carrying it.) This is good, because I've been looking to replace my black penny loafers, which are Sebagos and never quite worked on my feet, though I've been pretending otherwise for two years. One issue with the Longwood is that the edges of the leather are unfinished, and to me the natural leather clashes with the black of the rest of the shoe. I suspect this may be rectified with either the application of some shoe polish, or a visit to a cobbler.

One other Weejun of note is the 75th anniversary "Linwood" model. The leather on these has a nice luster without the fake-looking gloss of the Logan. These are described as exclusive to Opening Ceremony, a hipster store in New York, but I found them at ShoeBuy and Piperlime. They're already marked down at Piperlime, and ShoeBuy offers discount codes all the time. One unusual thing about the Linwood is that it's available in navy as well as burgundy. I also can't abide navy shoes, but if that's your thing, this might be a good shoe for you.

By the way, I opted not to go with American-made shoes like the Walden from Allen Edmonds mainly because of cost. A pair of Waldens is $235, versus $100 to $120 for Weejuns, depending on style, plus if you put in a small amount of effort you can almost certainly get the Weejuns of your choice at a decent discount. I ended up ordering the Longwoods from Piperlime for $90, which is 25% off their regular price. And Weejuns are manufactured in El Salvador, which is at least in this hemisphere.