Boots / shoes to wear with your flight jacket s...

[Dany McDonald]

Absolute beauties, Dany. Viberg are masters, have my eye on the 2040 in this dark wooly chromexcel!

Thank you. the 2040 was also on my list... Yeah masters is well-put! Go for it!

 

[Drzdave58]

Vintage John McHale shoes thrifted for $28.

 

[Earloffunk]

Lofgren - well made and comfy

 

[Jennison]

Beautiful Lofgren service boots!!! I think that’s a nice segue into what service boots NOT to wear with your flight jacket. Sorry, I saw these and I just had to post them. Billed as authentic repro WWII boots, they’re a combination of smooth cap toes and some kind of rough out junk. No, it’s not the lighting, they’re really that red. Looks like they were colored with a red highlighter. For fun, I’ve posted photos of a pair of SM Wholesale repro service boots, an original sole from a 1941 pair, and our lovely subject boots.

Like me, I’ll bet you guys never knew Ronald McDonald was a G.I. during the Big One.

 

[Micawber]

Nut brown Barkers with a daring splash of colour…

…simply because one is not obligated to wear footwear that looks government issue

 

[B-Man2]

Nut brown Barkers with a daring splash of colour…

…simply because one is not obligated to wear footwear that looks government issue

View attachment 158881

 

[Jennison]

When I was a little shaver, my father was a young U.S. Govt lawyer in Washington. Every Day he wore the same shoes, Florsheim “Imperials” in black. He referred to them as “GI shoes” because all the Govt lawyers seemed to be wearing black Florsheim Imperials. Not just any wingtips, Imperials. These have the brogue holes going straight back along the sides, 360 degree welting and a weight of about 1,000 pounds each. I vividly recall one Saturday morning going to the office with my father while he caught up on work. While there, another lawyer, about 10 years older than my father, came in and said hi. He’d been a B-17 pilot over Europe some 30 years earlier, and spent 2 years as a POW. When he walked into my father’s office, he’d just arrived to the building and was wearing an A-2 jacket (I don’t recall it being painted or patched) and his Black Florsheim Imperials. Neither man had a suit on, but they were wearing their “GI shoes.”
Today, Florsheim sells the same shoe (with some small mods) as the “Kenmore.” I wear them with a suit mostly, but man, they do look sharp and they “click-clack” as you walk in them, a sound rapidly fading into the past. I think I’ll try them with my A-2 (I’ve got both black and brown Imperials) as a nod to those guys.

These:

 

[B-Man2]

When I was a little shaver, my father was a young U.S. Govt lawyer in Washington. Every Day he wore the same shoes, Florsheim “Imperials” in black. He referred to them as “GI shoes” because all the Govt lawyers seemed to be wearing black Florsheim Imperials. Not just any wingtips, Imperials. These have the brogue holes going straight back along the sides, 360 degree welting and a weight of about 1,000 pounds each. I vividly recall one Saturday morning going to the office with my father while he caught up on work. While there, another lawyer, about 10 years older than my father, came in and said hi. He’d been a B-17 pilot over Europe some 30 years earlier, and spent 2 years as a POW. When he walked into my father’s office, he’d just arrived to the building and was wearing an A-2 jacket (I don’t recall it being painted or patched) and his Black Florsheim Imperials. Neither man had a suit on, but they were wearing their “GI shoes.”
Today, Florsheim sells the same shoe (with some small mods) as the “Kenmore.” I wear them with a suit mostly, but man, they do look sharp and they “click-clack” as you walk in them, a sound rapidly fading into the past. I think I’ll try them with my A-2 (I’ve got both black and brown Imperials) as a nod to those guys.

These:

We used to refer to them as “Wing Tips “ back in the 60s

 

[Jennison]

Burt, did you wear them too?

 

[B-Man2]

Burt, did you wear them too?

Yes …. They were worn by just about every guy who worked in the Government or Business world , along with a grey suit, white button down shirt and a striped tie. It was the uniform of the day. If you wanted to go a little wild you wore a powder blue or a pin striped “Eagle Brand” shirt . The Eagle Shirt company was located in Eagle Pa and made some top tier quality dress shirts .

 

[mulceber]

These have the brogue holes going straight back along the sides,

Apparently the current(?) term for that type of wingtip is "long wings."

 

[Jennison]

Because of the continuous brogue on the sides?

 

[mulceber]

Yep.