Some important shopping advice for Men

Men, how many times have you heard that women look at your shoes? And have you thought it was superficial from their side? Think again.

We do look at your shoes: in a way, shoes say so much about you. They have something to do with your personality. You don’t need to have too many of them as we do, but the ones you select have to make your outfit look good…if you wear the wrong pair, it doesn’t matter if you are wearing an Armani perfectly tailored suit: nobody will notice it.
To make you better understand the concept, wearing the wrong shoes is truly like putting the wrong frame to a beautiful painting: you’ll ruin the all thing!

Shoes need to make your feet feel happy, so make sure you select good quality leather, soft and comfortable and it’s ok if you have to spend more money than you thought on them: if there is an item where you can spend some extra dollars, this is your shoes. If they are classic and made with “vero cuoio” (check the sole, it should say genuine leather) they will last for years.

Shopping with my husband here in the USA I noticed that – as men in this Country are not as demanding as in Italy/France/UK- they try to sell them low quality clothes and shoes for high prices (mostly “made in China”), so watch out and don’t spend too much money on something that is not worth it. If you are buying a jacket for $500.00 or more it has to be made with high quality fabric and possibly in Italy.

In particular brands such as Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren have truly lowered the quality of their fabrics in recent years, but not their costs. 

In the US, go for other less famous brands, try the small boutiques instead of the big stores as you might find something more original and of better quality.

And here my friendly recommendations for your shopping: 

For jeans I recommend Hudson or Diesel. 

For suits I still like Armani, Ferragamo and Zegna.

For scarves I love Paul Smith.

For shirts and shoes... truly consider a trip to Italy: you won’t find something really good that fits you right in the USA (not even in NYC) and even very expensive Italian brands such as Loro Piana are “made in Italy”, but the tag says “for the US market” ,which means they are either not using the same good fabrics or the sizes are for bigger bodies only: in fact shirts might be too long or large on you, and shoes might not be as comfortable as the ones you purchase in Italy from the same brand.