Wearing brown shoes with a grey or navy suit is totally fine. But would caution wearing lighter brown / tan shoes with a darker suit as the contrast might be too strong and lighter shoes in general are less formal than darker shoes. Obviously never wear brown shoes with a black suit. On a related note, WSO seems to have this weird rule against wearing black suits in the office. Nothing wrong with a black suit and would recommend it for your first one since it is the hardest to fuck up and can wear pretty much any tie (not that this is common any more).

 
Most Helpful

Black suits are for funerals and you'll absolutely stick out wearing one. Get a navy suit. It's the most versatile. Next best is charcoal grey.

 

Black is just not a versatile color at all for a suit. For most people in most situations it just looks too severe and will have way too strong of a contrast between it and whatever tie / shirt you wear. Imagine wearing a black suit outside during a wedding, it just won't work -- you'll look like a waiter. If you wear it at work it looks too severe. Just stick with solid navy, charcoal gray, or medium gray. I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where black would be the clear better option than navy. Maybe if you're at some cool club somewhere but even still.

 

The only men who wear black suits during the day are undertakers and limo drivers — and clueless summer interns who were raised by single mothers. The crappy clothes shows what happens when you grow up without strong male authority figures.

 

The Brits are all about no brown shoes etc. The city of London and canary Wharf is practically black shoes only. Business Insider did a funny piece on this a few years ago. They took photos of those areas and virtually no one in a suit had brown shoes. 

 

No brown shoes seems to be a UK thing. In the US, brown shoes are perfectly fine, generally with navy / dark blue suits as opposed to charcoal / gray ones. You can also wear brown shoes with chinos if your office is more casual. Darker browns are imo more conservative and versatile but medium browns are perfectly fine too. 

 

It's fine and this is more UK focused advice. Just as long as they're a very dark brown / burgundy. The whole "light brown shoes and medium blue suit" look just isn't good.

 

Dolore consequuntur quia ut aut ut tempore maiores. Nemo corporis illum aut eum. Placeat est voluptas itaque veritatis odit omnis beatae. Quisquam culpa accusantium rerum at. Nam modi nostrum iure suscipit. Debitis expedita dolorem et commodi.

Itaque at praesentium non minus ut voluptatem aut mollitia. Dolore expedita voluptatem enim optio. Facilis quidem amet sequi vero ea voluptate. Quo voluptas libero et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Lazard Freres No 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 18 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 04 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”