The art of tying your shoes

For lovers of beautiful shoes, laces are not just a simple detail, they are not only used to keep the foot securely in place. Together with the shoe, they form a whole, which must be coherent and of impeccable aesthetics . And lacing offers an additional possibility to enhance the style of your high-end shoes or to give a personal look to your sneakers.

Straight or crossed lacing, for city shoes or sneakers, how to find your way? Because even science gets involved. According to the German mathematician Burkard Polster, there are more than 400 million ways to tie your shoes...

► Lace up your dress shoes

No offense to the little math geniuses, here we will base ourselves more on elegance than on arithmetic to discuss the art of tying your shoes correctly. As for dress shoes such as oxfords or derbys, we will stick with a classic and proven aesthetic. Before you start lacing, it is important to have the right laces. We will avoid those that are wide and flat which are intended for sneakers, and we will use thin and round laces. If they are thin and flat this could also be suitable but for less formal occasions.

Now let's get to the lacing! For all everyday circumstances, but also for exceptional moments such as weddings or important meetings, we prefer straight or parallel lacing . This gives a sleek and minimalist look to the shoes.

For other less formal events, it is possible to use other techniques such as certain cross lacings .

And finally, the knot! It's the icing on the cake or rather the ribbon on the gift. So that the laces do not loosen and that the two loops of the knot remain parallel to the whole, we will make a double knot of the Berluti knot type. And there you have it, the harmony will be perfect and you will have good shoes.

► Lace up your sneakers

With sneakers, the art of lacing moves into another dimension.

For laces, they will often be flat and wide . And for those who like originality, you have the possibility to vary the colors (and even dare to go fluorescent if you are still a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ).

As for how to lace your sneakers, you can keep the elegant parallel lacing , for example by doing it in different ways. But you can also totally think outside the box and give free rein to your creativity.

From classic cross lacing to commando lacing to the lacing of American rap stars, there is something for all tastes and all levels of difficulty. But complex lacing (such as double crossing lacing ) will be reserved for the most savvy experts, such as fans of origami or Ikea furniture assembly.

And if you have a real aversion to laces, but don't want to give up beautiful, elegant dress shoes, you still have loafers or Monk shoes.