Foot Notes

In the beginning, there was the traditional men’s dress shoe.

It wasn’t very stylish.

Then along came business casual, and the shoe industry tried to revamp men’s shoes into stylish commodities.

But while selection may have improved, some gents have yet to discover that clunky wing tips and narrow tassels are, well, ugly. So we went hunting for the perfect footwear for the aspiring stylish bloke.

Prada may be the Nike of dress shoes, but Tod‘s loafers make boys-who-shop drool. Why the hysteria? The rubber-soled kickers work with even the fanciest of suits. (Tod’s, 333 North Rodeo Drive, between Brighton Way and Dayton Way 310-285-0591.)

Continuing with the insanely comfortable, we like Barneys New York leather loafers and Banana Republic square-toe dress loafers, both of which look good with everything — pants to jeans. (Barneys New York, 9570 Wilshire Boulevard, at the corner of Camden Drive 310-276-4400. Banana Republic has locations,well, everywhere, or online at bananarepublic.com.)

Prefer laces, Mr. Three-Piece? Sure, you could go with the tried-and-true Italians (Ferragamo and Gucci), but why not go French? Heschung‘s leather is just as excellent but doesn’t shout out fashion victim. Functional. Timeless. (Barneys New York, 9570 Wilshire Boulevard, at the corner of Camden Drive 310-276-4400. See styles online at heschung.com, and find sale prices at raffaello-network.com.)

What to wear with jeans? Hogan makes the gosh darn hottest suede and distressed-leather boots. (Hogan, 131 North Robertson Boulevard, near Alden Drive 310-276-6125.)

And when the day is done, every good man deserves a stiff drink, a dog to bring him the paper, and the sassiest pair of slippers around. (Available online at jcrew.com.)