I haven't had a pair of dress shoes for ages. Then again, I haven't had a job where I wore a tie, either, for ages. The last time I worked an office job, I wore a casual pair of shoes (Alley Cat model), and Khakis/Chinos.
Well, I've had jobs where I had to be properly - and sometimes, formally - turned out.
I'm female, and professionally, my 'look" was not entirely unlike how Angela Merkel used to dress, even in my teaching days.
For me, that usually meant attired in dark (properly cut, usually bespoke) lightweight wool trousers, usually black, or charcoal, or navy, (or, sometimes, dark - black or navy - chinos, in summer I might wear lighter shades), black shoes, Church's, (or, sometimes, brown or blue suede Church's shoes, which I have had for over a decade), a dark (black) cotton or wool top (in winter, a black turtleneck), and a well cut - bespoke - wool jacket, the colour of which will vary, but the cut is always classic.
I buy - or order - very good quality stuff, - sometimes men's turtlenecks, (the quality is far better); today, for example, I'm wearing a man's woollen Lacoste black turtleneck, bought years ago, and am well layered beneath that - and the good stuff I buy tends to last for ages (years and years).
Actually, I'm one of those who looks better (and this was the case even when young) in semi formal attire; completely casual doesn't really suit me.
And, in truth, a semi-casual, or semi-formal, appearance tends to look better on me.
Years ago, people would say that formal meetings in California required socks. I suspect it's not that far from the truth.
I envy that, but am not so sure that I could pull it off with any degree of credibility.
The thing is, (especially if you are a woman), I have found (in both my teaching days, and in my subsequent career), that if I turned up for class, or a seminar, or a briefing or a (formal or semi-formal) meeting, attired in a smart, well cut, (but understated) jacket, well cut trousers, proper shoes, and my briefcase, people tended to take me seriously when I opened my mouth. Okay, I knew my stuff, but I also always looked professional. You look the part, you sound the part, you act the part, you are the part.
In any case, I've worked for the EU, and, abroad, at weekends, colleagues (male and female) would sometimes stroll into meetings (sometimes, very serious meetings, meetings to address catastrophic stuff that had arisen at short notice), dressed in shorts, jeans with holes, casual t-shirts; I never did.
For one thing, dressing in such a manner - dressing properly - meant (to me) focussing on what I was supposed to be doing, a reminder that I wasn't in that country for a holiday, but for professional reasons.
