Cole Haans Air Colton Saddle Shoes (w/blue laces)

I love these shoes. While I have only worn them once due to their dressy nature (homecoming dance, holler), I will more than likely be donning them on Easter Sunday. More urban prep than trad or frat, I like to think these shoes are modern enough to bring a certain avant garde look to anyone's wardrobe.

The sole are made by Nike, interestingly enough, which actually provides the wearer with a certain level of comfort that is rather unexpected (I danced, or attempted to, just fine without any period of break-in).

A brief examination of the history of saddle shoes provides a bit of insight into the whole Nike thing.

Originally introduced in 1906 for use by tennis and squash players, and considered by some the precursor to modern athletic footwear, saddle shoes became commonly worn by teenage girls in the 50's and 60's. As time wore on, however, saddle's became more of a novelty than fashionable craze. Nowadays, prepsters can be seen wearing them, particularly in classy situations, as the line between saddle shoe and their parent oxford shoe has blurred (wingtips fit into the same category, at least from what I have observed).

Perhaps my favorite aspect of these (or any) saddle shoe(s) is that you can customize them without being ostentatious. In fact, I think these shoes beg to have colored laces. The woman at Nordstrom (under normal circumstances I would never pay full price for these, but my grandmother bought them as a gift <3) even insisted that to not get at least an extra pair or two of laces would prove a regrettable act (admittedly she had some bias towards me making another purchase). The blue laces I have in them now matched the button down I wore to the dance, but I also have the original brown laces and a pair of orange ones.

So maybe they don't exactly meet the criteria for being truly trad, but I do enjoy these Cole Haans shoes very much. Normal retail is $198, but I've seen used ones on eBay for as little as $100. Something I'd definitely recommend, at least on the merit of looks alone (I'll make a post later describing their longevity, as that remains to be seen). Happy Hunting!