New shoes to start the year on the right foot<

By Anthony Vincent Published

New shoes for back to school

New derbies and oxfords for businessmen, Chelsea boots, chukkas or jodhpurs for the more cautious. Everyone will find a shoe that suits them.

A man's shoes say a lot about his personality and status. It may therefore be important to invest in a pair that will stay beautiful for a long time. Without rushing to the most classic and timeless models, you can find a happy medium between the timeless and the spirit of the times. New houses such as Bobbies, Pied de Biche and M. Moustache, for example, are working to dust off the eternal shapes of men's shoes to modernize them thanks to lighter construction, new sets of colors and materials. And this, without pushing us to have to break the bank.

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To choose your new pair, check the quality of the leather, its regularity and its absence of folds or ribs. We also inquire about the assembly of the sole, sewn or sewn and glued, blake (for streamlined and elegant shoes) or Goodyear (more robust, waterproof and durable thanks to the strip of leather called welt which is inserted between the upper and sole of the shoe) to choose the one that best suits their lifestyle. Once these quality criteria are met, we can finally focus on style.

The most elegant: oxfords, derby shoes and double-buckle shoes

We no longer present these essentials of the men's wardrobe. The richelieu is characterized by its closed lacing, without yoke: the upper is soberly split. Dressed, it is preferably worn with a suit. More relaxed, the derby is distinguished by its open lacing, that is to say the yokes sewn on the shoe which support the laces. A sub-category of derbies and brogues with multiple perforations and thicker soles, which appear more casual, are called brogues. New trend for a few seasons, the buckle shoe, called "monk strap" by our English-speaking neighbors, closes with one or two buckles and is suitable for the most formal outfits.

The most versatile: chukka boots and desert boots

Both elegant enough to go to the office and comfortable, light and relaxed enough for everyday life, chukka boots and desert boots are easy to wear with chinos or jeans. Chukka boots have a leather or rubber sole and can have up to three pairs of eyelets for the laces, while desert boots have a crepe sole and have two pairs of eyelets. The term "chukka" comes from the name given to a period of polo matches, a sport whose participants often wear this type of shoe. The desert boots owe their name to their creator, Nathan Clark, grandson of the founder of the brand of the same name. Inspired by shoes worn by soldiers who had bought them in Cairo, he adapted them to make them more robust and popularized them from 1949.

The most rock: chelsea and jodhpur boots

In the ankle boots family, two models give a more rock charm to urban outfits, whether casual or dressed up to the nines. The cradle of the Jodhpur boot is of course the city of the same name in India, the epicenter of horse riding in the country. When in 1897 Sir Patrap Singh, son of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, came to attend Queen Victoria's Jubilee with his entire personal polo team wearing these shoes, England was seduced and adopted them. Today, designers play with the number of turns of the ankle strap, its width, and the metal of its buckle to dress the elegant. As for the Chelsea boot, it is the shoemaker of Queen Victoria Joseph Sparkes-Hall who created the first models characterized by their elasticated sides in 1851. First intended for women, British pop rock groups popularized them in the 1950s and earned them their nickname of "Chelsea boots" in reference to the district of London that they frequent.