In Praise Of Brown In Town

Words by Peter Howarth

Thirty years ago, Peter Howarth discovered the transformative power of wearing brown shoes in the city – and hasn’t looked back since.

I live half my life in New York these days. On Wednesday evenings I’ve become a regular at a club on Avenue A because it hosts a residency of an excellent jazz band. The Mingus Big Band was set up by Sue Mingus after her husband’s death to keep his music alive. That was back in 1991 and since then the 14-piece ensemble, with changes of personnel, has celebrated the work of the extraordinary jazz visionary, Charles Mingus. Today, the Mingus Big Band is the Grammy Award-winning Mingus Big Band, no less.

On Wednesdays I take a seat with friends and feel like I’m listening to the soundtrack of this city. The musicianship is brilliant, and the repertoire extensive. The other evening, though, what caught my attention was the footwear of Alex Terrier, the suave French alto saxophonist.

Tap, tap, tapping in front of me were a pair of Oxford brogues. What was most interesting, was that they were brown. The rest of Terrier’s outfit, bar the red socks, was entirely black – black jacket, black trousers, black open-necked shirt. The tan colour on his feet reminded me of the fact that brown shoes can make a real impact. Especially when worn in an unusual or unexpected context.

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Lanark 3

Dark Brown Burnished Calf

Belt - Calf

Dark Brown Calf

The old saying ‘Never wear brown in town’ is said to refer to the idea that this colour is associated with a more countryside-appropriate wardrobe of tweeds and country checks and knits. The footwear for the great outdoors would fall under this edict too, with shoes and boots in brown leather being the common companions of traditionally rural garb. Never mind that brown is historically the more natural colour of leather, because of the ages-old methods of vegetable tanning. The fact is that once people worked out how to dye leather black – by the 16th century – formal footwear became associated with that inky colour. Hence, no brown in town.

Over time the distinction between town and country attire has inevitably blurred and relaxed as fashion has magpie-picked bits from both and assimilated them. Herringbone weaves, tweeds, waxed jackets and corduroy are all now part of the metropolitan style lexicon. It’s the sartorial equivalent of the Range-Rover in Mayfair, and has been encouraged by labels as diverse as Belstaff, Ralph Lauren and Oliver Spencer.

With this merging of styles has come the rise of the brown shoe. Apparently, its popularity began to gather pace in the mid-20th century and today, every 4 December, there’s even an annual Wear Brown Shoes Day. Genuinely. One thing that’s surely helped has been the adoption of jeans and chinos as daily wear; a brown leather shoe or boot looks great with casual trousers, after all. Think of the brown suede chukka boot as worn by Steve McQueen and you get the picture.

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Kelso

Dark Brown Suede

Belt - Suede

Dark Brown Suede

There is one place where the distinction still holds, though, and that is in the US Navy. According to a 2021 article in the Smithsonian Magazine (‘Black Shoes and Brown Shoes: Beyond the Flight Deck of an Aircraft Carrier’ by Roger Mola), ‘Brown Shoe’ was the name given to US Navy aviators in 1913 who took to wearing brown-coloured leather footwear to disguise the dust they picked up from airfields. Aviators in the US Navy continue to wear brown shoes today, while the rest of the Navy wears black.

My own fascination with brown shoes stems from a realisation that they could completely lift an otherwise traditional metropolitan outfit. Back in the days when navy blue suits by Yohji Yamamoto and black suits by Comme des Garçons were the height of cool – in the late ’80s and early ’90s – I saw how a plain brown Derby could completely subvert an otherwise classic combo. Dark suit, white shirt and brown shoes… that was the lightbulb moment.

I’ve never looked back. And today have added grey suits to the roster. And grey flannel trousers. And ecru cord trousers. And, well, pretty much everything apart from a black tux, where I think even I might struggle to look like I hadn’t got dressed in the dark.

As a styling tip, I advise matching the colours of your leather – so brown leather or suede shoes with brown leather or suede belt, bag and, ideally, watch strap. And, if you’re really being thorough (or OCD) about it, wallet too.

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Coniston

Dark Brown Rough-Out Suede

Belt - Rough-Out Suede

Dark Brown Rough-Out Suede

These days I think of the brown shoe thing as being more European than Japanese, but that’s probably because I’ve spent a lot of time in Italy, where brown shoes seem to be everywhere – and where brown leather feels like a national treasure; see stylish brown leather armchairs, sofas, desk tops and car interiors.

My favourite brown footwear at present consists of two Dark Brown Rough-Out Suede pairs of Crockett & Jones boots – Islays and Conistons – and a new pair of brown leather Derbies: Lanark 3s, in Dark Brown Burnished Calf with Dainite rubber soles. Broadly speaking, the Derbies are my go-to for suits and the boots get paired with jeans and chinos.

What I’ve embraced in clothing appears to have leaked into other aspects of my life, too. When I bought a black Triumph Thruxton several years ago, it came with a black seat as standard. I decided to source a brown leather one to replace it, just to be different. It looked great; a simple way to make an already beautiful motorcycle even more striking.

And yes, I did ride it in town.