Alright folks, as a former shoe salesman at the highest grossing men's shoe department in the entire Nordstrom chain, here are a few pointers.
Rockports, Eccos, Doc Marten's, Born, and any other shoes similar to this are not dress shoes. Ecco does make some business casual shoes, which would be ok to wair with khakis or MAYBE some dark slacks, but certainly arent shoes one would wear with a suit. Personally, I would not wear any of the aforementioned shoes to an interview. I have dress shoes that range from the old fashioned penny/tassle loafter (old man shoes) to the newest most fashionable wingtips. Do yourselves all a favor and head to a place similar to a Nordstrom (or Nordstrom if you can) and find a pair of "dress" shoes. They can be had for anywhere from $79 TO $400. As much as us salesmen will clown the $79 shoes, and as much as the build quality on them is not great, if it's JUST for interviews, it's fine to go with cheap ones. Kenneth Cole has a decent cheap dress shoe line, Cole-Haan is moving in a more fashionable direction and have good slip-on dress shoes. (By the way, lace-up or slip-on is not any indication of dressiness...it's just a personal preference). Nordstrom has two brands that they own "Calzoleria Toscana (italian leather shoes for around $140/pair) and Pure Stuff (a more casual, but still acceptable dress shoe line). Ferragamo, Gucci, Prada, and Canali are all top end shoes, and hopefully none of you will be buying them until you're actually a well-dressed doc.
With price in mind, here are the rules for colors. If you have a black or charcoal suit, your shoe color is black, always. The ONE exception to this rule is if your black suit has a dark brown pinstripe, or you've got a brown/black shirt and tie combo, in which case, a DARK brown shoe is ok.
Navy suits require brown shoes. The hue of brown is up to you. If you're rocking a navy suit, a french blue shirt and a boring tie, stay darker. Make sure to try and match your belt to your shoes as much as possible as well.
Anyone bold enough to wear a seersucker suit, tan, white, or dark brown suit, you've got enough style and I don't think you need any advice. Light gray suits need a color shoe that goes with the shirt and tie...so that's up to you.
Sock color is really not an issue. Just make sure you don't wear navy socks with your black suit, otherwise, you're probably fine.
(This wasn't intended to be a Nordstrom commercial either, I don't work there anymore, but I do still think their shoe department will work with anyone if you give them a budget and purpose of the shoe.)
Good luck guys! ...and to the guy who said women look at shoes, you're on the money. If you can get some baller shoes, women will be impressed...
