Dress Sneakers: Office Style Options by Luxury Brands, Fashion Designers

Casual Friday. It began as a reward for having to dress so seriously the other four days of the week. It permits men who know, more or less, how to wear a business suit to arrive at work in a Hawaiian shirt. It allows clean-cut professionals to relax a little. On Thursdays, Joe in acquisitions is Romney; on Friday, he’s Jerry from Seinfeld. It’s not simply the jeans with the high waist. It’s the sneakers. God, those sneakers—two big, basic blocks that veer from the athletic to the orthopedic. They’re a blinding distraction, like teeth that have just been bleached (although at least that guy can close his mouth). The persistent thought is that there has to be a better way.