You really notice the gulf between womenswear and menswear at Christmas. For women, the festive season is all about glitter and glamour. It's traditionally about indulging yourself, letting go, dressing up, and the telly's full of adverts for party wear. For men, the combination of Christmas and clothing traditionally brings with it only misery and doleful acceptance: unwanted socks, awful jumpers. No one ever makes an ad suggesting we glam up for the office party. The success of said evening isn't predicated on whether or not you make a sartorial splash, but on whether you can get through it without maddening yourself with an excess of punch and telling your boss to stuff it up his arse.
With the best will in the world, that's not the most vaunting ambition for the season of goodwill, so perhaps it's good that footwear designers at least are trying to shift men's attention to the slightly more high-minded topic of what we might wear. On one level, it's a nice idea – why should women have all the fun? – but they face an uphill struggle, not least because the notion of "party shoes" is almost entirely alien to the male wardrobe: you might at a push own a pair of dress shoes, but have you ever glammed up your suit with something metallic or in leopardskin? Exactly. At least one high-street manufacturer withdrew a pair of sequined men's shoes before they got to store, presumably after consumer testing. The men they tried them on may have responded with the kind of suggestion you try to avoid drunkely making to your boss at the office party.
• Alexis wears suit and shirt, both from a selection, by Calvin Klein. Shoes, £65, by Kurt Geiger.
Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Grooming: Ami Penfold at Mandy Coakley.
