Brogues Look Book

So I mentioned brogues at the start of the week and have been pondering since then how to wear them in a variety of different ways. I am hoping today to put together 3 looks using brogues – but not just one pair as I found that quite difficult without producing looks that were a bit “samey”. This time I am going to show you how to use the trend in different ways so that YOU can pick your favourite style and hopefully add it to your mental scrapbook for use this season.

The brogues are a great investment, but like I said in the original story, this year they have come back better than ever and there is almost too much choice to get your head round. Notice how I said “almost”, because obviously I LOVE the fact that men are spoilt for choice these days, not just the ladies. I am definitely going to be picking up 2 pairs of brogues this year. One in a low cut brown or tan colour and a brogue boot hybrid in black. I love my boots as you probably would of guessed by now if your a regular reader and I just love the styling of the brogue as it is so detailed.

Brogues are a perfect items for a variety of styles, as you will see in the outfits below. Today I will pull off a fashion forward, geek chic and country outfits all using different brogue shapes and colours. I wanted to do the Indiana Jones look for Witness as he left a comment yesterday, but couldn’t find a detailed picture in time for this morning. So I may even add to this article before next week’s instalment.

So shall we get our brogue on? I think so…

Brogue Look Books

First Outfit – Fashion Forward
So first we come to the fashion forward outfit. For those that don’t know, it means we are going to try and add an edge to this look but also keep it bang up to date and on trend. The thing to remember about brogues is that they take their roots from the country male, so we are going to play on this in a darker and more fashionable way. The key pieces to this outfit are the brogue boot and the waxed jacket. Waxed jackets are typically associated with the country and farmers etc. but this All Saints version is a thing of true beauty… you would not find this on a farmer. Military styling and dark black colour make this look more like a rocker jacket and it really brings this outfit bang up to date.

The brogues I have picked are a black booted variety which can be worn with skinny jeans (also included) either with the jeans resting on top, tucked in or covering the boot. I love the tucked in approach and again this will really SHOW OFF the brogues – as they are such a beautiful piece of footwear. The skinny jeans look slightly weird in the photo below because I have shrunk the image, but they are a great grey striped variety from Topman. This contrasts well with the black jacket and boots in order to keep the outfit from looking too dark. I have also brought in the grey striped flat cap so you have coordination of patterns and also play on the whole country vibe again. The flat cap is a great winter hat and I think it works perfectly when meshed with fashion forward versions of the country jacket and footwear.

The graphic tee is included to bring some variety and colour into the outfit. I picked this photo print version by All Saints because this is also going to be a big trend in graphic tees this coming season (report coming soon) and it is not too in your face. The check shirt is an EXTRA that you can add to this outfit to inject some true bold statement colours. This PRPS version is my absolute favourite of the season and will really stand out against all the other darker monotones. You can sack it altogether though if you want to keep the outfit simple – or sub in ANY other bold check print because it will always go well with the other dark monotones the outfit is created from. I LOVE THIS LOOK!

Geek Chic
This look plays totally on the massive geek chic trend we have going on. The brogues we used this time are a simple washed chocolate variety which look amazing. Low cut standard brogues, these will work with a lot of different looks. This time we are going to go all out geek: so we have the braces, shirt, tie and specs to throw on together. What you will notice though is they all have a fashion element – skinny tie, slim fit shirt with a really small button down collar and the braces with leather detailing. This is because to pull off the geek look it should be ironic – you are obviously NOT a geek and so even if you went all out like in this look, there are subtle hints that actually you are just a cool male who knows style.

This look is a lot like the catwalk look we showcased last week (click here – top left picture) with brown shoes, dark blue jeans and then mix that with a great crisp white shirt and blazer combination. Due to the fact that we have used brown shoes, I have included grey or light brown braces and tie. You will notice they both have a tweed effect in order to nod to the country vibe of the brogues. You can mix and match trends so subtly in fashion and it looks amazing. We have kept the essence of brogues and the country throughout this whole outfit using colours and textures - but really pulled off a strong geek chic LOOK.

The Country Gentleman
I had two ways I could go with this. I could either go really eccentric and put in bold chinos, or coloured trousers OR just keep it a really simple country but try and give it a fashion twist. I went with the latter in order to appeal to more people who read, but I definitely want to update this look book once I find a suitable image of how I could do the country eccentric well. I do not like to do something by halves so I would probably be making it up a bit if I tried right now. Anyone who can post a picture in the comments I would appreciate it to give me some inspiration!

Anyway, on to the look. Country is all about tweed, quilting, sports coats and other typically upper class items. I also associate luxury materials like velvet, wool and the like with country estates and the whole country gentleman vibe. I have picked some tan brogues this time as they are a little bit eccentric and remind me of the country club style. We are going to tone it down from here though starting with some straight leg Nudie jeans in an indigo/grey colour wash… this will give amazing contrast to the shoes and it means that they become a FOCAL point to the whole outfit. They turn into a real statement shoe and because Paul Smith do footwear so brilliantly, I couldn’t think of anyone else to pull this off so well.

The top half plays with the country materials. We use the plain white crisp shirt to give us a formal look and upper class aura. Match this with a beautiful tweed grey waistcoat and you do not really need anything else to look great. We are going to push this further though by adding the black VELVET scarf tied just as it is in the picture so it sits nicely around (or inside) your shirt and drops towards the start of the waistcoat. You could go for a coloured version here and then you have 2 real bold statement pieces in the outfit, but for me I like to keep the shoes as the main piece and the waistcoat/scarf combination as the luxury items. For the scarf my key tip would be to get a really thin version in a silk or velvet so you can tie it round your neck without it swamping your outfit or looking too bulky.

For the jackets I have put 2 varieties that could work just as well as the other. Obviously we have the matching tweed blazer – country club personified and really brings you into that world. The other is a quilted version by Barbour which gives a more relaxed overall vibe to the outfit. I would really slim fit this though if you are going to do it properly. As everything else is quite clean lines and formal looking, this should “fit” – so go down a size if you need to but make sure it matches the overall vibe that the rest of the outfit gives off.

You can pick from your jackets here. Tweed would be my preference but for a more relaxed approach go for the black quilt, which coordinates just as well with the rest of the colouring in this outfit.