On Deck
When I was in jr. high, the only shoe a guy could wear with his French-rolled jeans were some dark brown deck shoes. It wasn’t preppy, and it wasn’t at all pretty. But other than Nikes and such, it was the only non-atheltic shoe we had access to in mid-Minnesota. It was the exhausted extent of our adolescent, aesthetic imaginations.
So two years ago when the deck shoe docked back into fashion relevance, I was far from the shore and weary about its weird return. When a year passed and the faddish irony had solidified into something stronger and more lasting I wasn’t as salty about the style’s resurgence, although I wasn’t scoping out a pair for myself either.
But the white Common Projects court shoes I’d bought last spring have always been a bit tight, and my navy Vans feel coarse and stuffy on the inside, so last summer I ended up pairing all my rolled-up chinos or shorter-than-short shorts with a pathetic pair of gray plastic sauna slides I’d swapped up from the dollar section at Target.
The slides slipped on and off in less than a second, and felt good even on the sweatiest summer days, but I knew every time I had them on that they were effectively killing the cool of whatever outfit I had assembled.
So, believe it or not (and I hardly do, myself) I’m turning to the deck shoe this summer as my fashion footwear life-saver. However I might’ve felt about them twenty years ago, their leathery insides were always smooth and soft, and they were a breeze to kick on or off, summer, spring, and fall.
I’ll be steering clear of anything (brown) that reminds me of any of my ’89 – ’91 pairs, and of anything too prep-ed or peppy. So white soles are a no-go. I’m betting on the less-boaty broodiness of all-black styles.
I (think I) think there were some at OiPolloi forever and ever, until the moment I realized I cared.
Rogues Gallery had (has?) some too that seem cool if not costly.
For now, I’m waiting to see how these dressed-up, fifty-buck ones from Asos in the UK look when they arrive in the mail next week.
If they fit and seem not too flimsy, then the first order of business will be to beat ‘em up a bit. Scuffed and with rough jeans they could be incredibly see-worthy, mates.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Weird – I like this matte black look.
But with streets over saturated with boat shoes Im staying away. My solution – penny loafers.
July 19th, 2010 at 5:25 am
[...] reticent to re-board the boat shoe trend, I began last March with these shiny half loafers/half deck shoes from ASOS. I ended up wearing them all spring, but also wanted something a bit dressed down and de-glossed, [...]