I recently bought a pair of dark brown AE Park Avenue dress shoes on ebay and thought they would be good for a navy blue suit for IB interviews.
But someone was telling me that it's best to wear black shoes and only black shoes for finance interviews. Is this true?
This probably seems really petty, but i feel that theres a fine line between looking sharp and looking pretentious, and I dont want to cross it haha.
Thanks in advance
![](“https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/files/park_ave.jpg"")
Why you should not wear brown shoes to an interview
Wearing black shoes to your interview is risk management. Black shoes are standard or interviews and are the most conservative choice. Wearing brown shoes may not matter or you could get dinged for it. Therefore it’s best to air on the side of caution and wear black shoes. Once, you've secured an offer you can wear whatever you’d like.
from certified user @genghis khan
I've had colleagues ding people for wearing banker shirts, suspenders, double-breasted jackets, peak lapel jackets and the like. Personally, I may have thought those colleagues were assholes anyway, but the kid didn't get the offer regardless of what I thought of the banker in question. How many guys with long hair do you think make it through the process with an offer? Details sometimes matter, whether they should or not.
if you want to affect poor taste to come off as a hard working student then perhaps black shoes
No need to push the envelope during an interview. I would wear black to be on the safe side.
dark brown PA's could work with navy suit since they are the standard conservative interview shoe. for the most part however i would advise to stick with black for interviews
I don’t know much about shoes. Are black Park Avenues a good choice for a BB interview?
they say Park Ave's are a pretty classic interview shoe. took me a while to realize how cheap my kenneth cole oxford's looked, so i recently picked up a pair of Park Aves. i suggest looking on ebay.com or some discount sites/outlet malls. Park Avenue's retail for $325 and i think thats quite expensive for internship interviews. unless your parents are loaded, then spend away
......these responses are ridiculous. A nice pair of brown shoes will be fine with your navy suit.
tool
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"its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."
this whole thread is pretty tool-ish, i gotta admit. i think it made the front page to make fun of how inane some of us can be. but it is pretty interesting to see how some people are vehemently against brown shoes in interviews, at this point i cant imagine it being a big deal.
Thanks Pedigree.
You might get the job based on the selection of shoes, I mean, shoe selection goes a long way in client meetings.
I like the Park Avenues a lot, but do yourself a favor and wear black shoes. They do look more professional, and do you really want to take your chances in a year like this?
I've had colleagues ding people for wearing banker shirts, suspenders, double-breasted jackets, peak lapel jackets and the like. Personally, I may have thought those colleagues were assholes anyway, but the kid didn't get the offer regardless of what I thought of the banker in question. How many guys with long hair do you think make it through the process with an offer? Details sometimes matter, whether they should or not.
Let me tell you a personal story: the last time I interviewed for a job, I left the John Lobbs and the H. Huntsman at home, and donned a well-tailored Brooks Brothers Fitzgerald suit and a pair of spit-shined Aldens. Look at your interview attire as a uniform, rather than an expression of your personality.
What's wrong with wearing a peak lapel jacket?
Sticking to black shoes is just risk management.
but black shoes don't seem to be a great fit for a dark navy suit. I have a nice pair of shoes that are almost burgundy in color that I wear with a dark navy suit. Do black shoes go with every type of navy suit?
Black will pretty much go w/ any type of navy suit. I'd say show me a navy suit black doesn't go with..
This is an old thread on Wilmott.com:
http://www.wilmott.com/messageview.cfm?catid=16&threadid=28849&FTVAR_MS…
Here is one of the posts:
"A very good friend of mine who worked at one of the major names on Wall Street said that they could not decide between two equally qualified applicants. One of the candidates wore brown shoes to the final interview and lost out."
Whether bs or not it does highlight the fact - why would you take any risk you don't have to at an interview - for gods sake u can wear whatever you want once you get the job. These q's keep coming up, if you don't have the sense to dress conseratively for an interview then you are lacking much of the common sense required on the job.
Whether bs or not it does highlight the fact - why would you take any risk you don't have to at an interview - for gods sake u can wear whatever you want once you get the job. These q's keep coming up, if you don't have the sense to dress conseratively for an interview then you are lacking much of the common sense required on the job.
That's the problem w/ most of these kids. It's not "let's do everything I can to help myself get the job." It's instead, "what can I get away with and still maybe get the job." The idea that you'd risk it to perhaps stick it to the man is something to think about.
No offense, but why ask for advice and then disregard it "as not being a big deal"?
none taken, youre right that was pretty contradictory of me. the reason why i said "at this point i dont see it being a big deal" is due to the posts that said it was ridiculous that brown vs black would be an issue.
the reason i brought this up in the first place is that i thought dark brown would go best with a navy suit and that black might not work. now that i know thats not true, im definitely only wearing black shoes to an interview. im not trying to get away with being risky or fashion-forward, i just always thought brown shoes/navy suit was the standard, until someone on styleforum.net mentioned that it might not be good for an interview.
thanks for the insight. that link with the quote about choosing one candidate over another because of his shoes closed the deal for me. i dont think it is at all inappropriate/unusual for interviewers to judge a candidate based on his attire, so i want to prepare for that.
Ridiculous that brown shoes are considered "risky" and "pushing the envelope"...
As Brian McNamee would say, "it is what it is."
Save the peaked lapels for tuxedos. Your lapels should look like this: http://www.arsportasia.com/AMS0003A.jpg Not like this: http://www.staleywise.com/collection/steichen/steichen_gary_cooper_b.jpg
some of you people are sick. who cares what color they are. as long as they're dress shoes and they aren't white, yellow, blue, red, or pink, who the fuck cares.
You're right, no one cares. What do I know?
you definitely know a lot more than i do, no question. but my point is i really cant see black vs. brown shoes being a big deal at all. long hair and retarded lapels etc. maybe because it makes you look stupid, but interchangeable color shoes i can't see being a deciding factor. And if it is, that's a crying shame.
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