A mini debate broke out last night on the Guardian fashion desk about Labrinth’s Roses-inspired suit. The question was: should he have paired his on-point, pink-and-blue, orchid-print two-piece with a pair of chelsea boots?
After about three seconds, we decided that the answer was “yes”. But the chelsea-boot-with-a-suit look is a hard thing to pull off. Partly, this is because of the boots’ connotations: the King’s Road swinging 60s set or Lou and Nico fumbling around The Factory in their sunglasses trying to find the exit. In other words, rock’n’roll rebels whose boots were the sharp ending to their skinny-jeaned spider legs.
Wearing boots with a suit is a tactical endeavour that’s really about one minor detail: the length of your trouser. Ideally, you want your hemline to stop at exactly the right place, so it shows off your shoe. Labrinth’s hemline was a bit too low, whereas Bobby Cannavale on Late Night with Seth Meyers judged it perfectly. His look allowed us a view of his burnished leather chelsea in all its glory. He also played it safe with the rest of his outfit, the normcore suit and brilliant-white shirt pushing the attention towards his footwear.
