The 10 Best Pairs Of Black Leather Shoes I Own

The styles that make up my do-anything rotation, PLUS 10 more I think are worthy of yours.

My favorite black leather shoes aren’t just another footwear option in my rotation, but a necessary style safety net. Every once in a while I’ll have a day, like most of us do, when I find myself standing in front of the mirror paralyzed by choice and am more or less ready to give up. And in those moments, I know that to get back to baseline I’ve gotta start from the ground up with a pair of simple black leather shoes. My best pairs are things I can build an enormous range of outfits from—they’ve got the ability look as good with a solid suit as they do my most colorful pair of big ass shorts.

Whether that’s an explanation or rationalization for why I’ve amassed a collection that’s approaching 20 pairs is up for debate. (As per usual, it’s probably the latter.) But what isn’t in question is that I’ve got a lot of experience with this particular footwear category, whether we’re talking slippers, boots, lace-ups, loafers or beyond.*

(*By the way, for the sake of clarity I wanna mention that when I say “shoes” throughout this post I’m basically referring to any and all non-sneaker footwear.)

Now, I’m by no means trying to say you’ve gotta have as many pairs of black leather shoes as I do. In fact, I’m kind of saying the opposite—you’re welcome to join me as someone who can dial in a version for every hyper-specific occasion, but the real benefit of the form is their versatility. If you do it right, keep it simple, and get a pair that’s built to last, then you’ll really only need one or two that you’ll both look forward to wearing and that you can lean on in those unpleasant but bound-to-happen “I have no clue what the fuck to wear today” moments. Anything beyond that is kind of just gravy.

Anyway, all of that is to say that below I ran through my ten most utilized pairs to give you what I hope is a pretty solid menu of options to choose from as you search for the pair (or pairs) that is (are) right for you. But because I don’t think my personal arsenal represents everything that’s out there, I then rattled off ten more that I don’t own, but still think would make quality, never-going-out-of-style additions to any wardrobe. Enjoy!!!

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The 10 Best Pairs I Own