the traditional well-dressed man sandals

 Sandals hold a little bit of an odd location on earth of menswear. On the flip side, they're clearly a very old kind of footwear; but on the other hand, they are not really present in the western western guys's wardrobe. True, the ancient Romans and Greeks all wore sandals, nevertheless wearing a pair of vases with a lawsuit isn't something you'll see today. Read on to learn our thoughts on this different kind of footwear.

Sandals for men are occasionally also referred to as"mandals," and they're the subject of an ongoing debate--particularly when worn with socks. Let us begin by stating you can wear anything you want, whenever you want in this day and age. So the actual question is this: would a dapper gentleman contemplate sandals to maintain good taste?

The Growth of Sandals

The word originates from the Greek word sandalon or sandalion. Sandals are defined as shoes which leave most of your foot exposed, but beyond that, there's no universal definition for the word. Going back, the oldest known pair of men's sandals in the world are over 10,000 years old. They were made from sagebrush bark. Roman and greek soldiers were understood to fight in vases known as buskins. Going back thousands or hundreds of years ever, many men wore sandals.However, in more recent history, sandals have fallen out of favor to the traditional well-dressed man sandals.

Just just how did that change come about? Partly, it was because shoemaking got far more sophisticated than simply slapping a couple pieces of bark or leather onto your foot. It's also likely that the climate in Europe contributed to how a closed-toed shoe has become the standard for men for over a hundred years in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Of course, every nation and culture will have its own criteria and there's no universal truth.

Also, if you think about it, most areas that experience temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit in winter (10 degrees Celsius) will likely not want to wear sandals all year round. Looking back in the 1930s and 1940s, that are usually considered to be the golden era of classic menswear, you will have a very hard time finding guys wearing sandals. Each of the illustrations and photos from magazines typically show men either barefoot on the shore, or occasionally wearing espadrilles. When you look at Cary Grant in the photograph below, you will see that he was wearing socks, but maybe not sandals.