Boat shoes are funky, functional and always look modern, thanks to their versatile design. These impeccable lace-up shoes look awesome with denim, shorts or chinos.
Boat shoes also come in a wide range of colours mainly in tan-brown shade. Their basic construction features raw stitching on the upper and short vamp and two eyelets to fasten the laces, which also run along the topline.
They are easy to wear, light and comfortable shoes without the need of socks. There are many scenarios where men can wear boat shoe including casual parties, beach walk, sea cruises, and smart casual and ultra-casual outfits.
What Are Boat Shoes ?
Early sailors began to wear boat shoes, while working at the wet deck became difficult for them. They required gripping sole and enduring shoe design that could expel water as well and dry soon. Boat shoe provided much needed stability on the turbulent deck and turned out to be quintessential footwear for this job, hence also called “deck shoes”. Boat shoes were mostly leather made and durable through the wet conditions.
Who Can Wear Boat Shoes ?
What makes these shoes more versatile is their adaptability to every age group from teenage to older men. That means there must be a large variety of colours and variants of these shoes, and the answer is yes. Men can seldom ditch sneakers and sport shoes to wear something classier with their routine outfits.
Students can opt these shoes for picnicking, office goers can relax in boat shoes during the weekends, middle aged men can wear them during shopping with family on Sunday.
Socks With Boat Shoes
Well, the answer is no, in almost all cases. Boat shoes were worn on wet ship decks; therefore not required socks. Later these shoes fared well in off-deck situations street fashion.
First let us know why boat shoes are too casual,
- The style of the shoes is more casual than loafers.
- Mostly the sole colour contrasts with the upper of the shoes.
- Laces are thicker and more visible than other shoes.
- Toe cap is U-shaped not pointed.
- Visible raw stitching.
Boat Shoe As Slip-on Shoes
There may be times when tying the shoe laces can be a tedious task. No scratching your forehead! You can wear these short tonged boat shoes like slip-on shoes. Tie shoe laces slightly loosely than you normally do. Now your comfortable boat-shoe style loafers are ready to slip into or slip out as many times as you want.
What Not To Wear With Boat Shoes
- Boat shoes should not be worn with a suit. A suit requires dress shoes in all settings and boat shoe will look indecorous under formal attire.
- Flannel trousers and cuffed pants are too formal again. Pay attention to the harmony of shoes with trousers while dressing up.
Boat Shoes With Denim
Denim is just as fine with boat shoes as chinos. Denim style is important when you are wearing shoes that don’t require socks. Narrow or taper legged jeans will do justice with boat shoes. Since there is no option for socks these two styles cut nice silhouettes around shoes. Another key factor is length of the denim which should not be too long; just long enough to kiss the ankle.
Leather Boat Shoes For Polished Appearance
Boat shoes in leather are decent team players with blazers. You may enhance the style by wearing suede jacket with these shoes. Leather has fine finish and smooth surface easy to harmonize with chic semi-formal outfits. Dark brown is safer side to make any outfit where you do not need black. In fact boat shoes have a marked identity in brown, thanks to their exclusive design and detailing.
Cuffed Denim or Chinos For A Slapdash Appearance
Just one or two rolls to the trouser legs are enough to enhance casualness of the outfit. Rolling creates a gap between shoes and pants; this is where your special footwear comes to the spotlight. You need not be systematic all the time, just roll haphazardly without a neat line to show. It is interesting to note that rolled up denim or chinos with boat shoes look way better than worn with full length.
Shorts With Boat Shoes
This is not a new trend to wear sneakers, loafers or other boots with shorts but wearing shorts with boat shoes makes more sense because of the functionality of the laidback style of these shoes. Moreover, both boat shoes and shorts fall under casual category and coordinate smoothly with each other. As for the occasion, this combination is fit for beach events, friendly bashes, barbeque parties or an excursion in hot weather.
Choose a proportional length of shorts to your legs to offset the length and likewise pick boat shoes that have some contrasting hue to catch eyes while you stroll in your sloppy attire.
How To Choose Shoe Colour
Generally black is nowhere to be found in boat shoes. Most popular colours are brown, tan, camel, grey and blue. But most versatile is the brown; keep a contrast to accent your shoes while wearing trousers that complement your look. Dark brown is fine preference with navy blazer since these two colours always coordinate well. Navy or blue are street fashion alternatives and might not fit every man’s taste.
Dual tone boat shoes are also available in the market and they will tempt you instantly but don’t act capriciously. Navy-brown is a well-received blend; another option is blue-grey. If you want to kill two birds with a single throw select two different tones of the same colour to lend a perfect touch of sophistication viz. brown and chocolate brown. Trick is to keep the quarters in dark shade while light shade will cover the rest of the shoe.
