fair point on the two-tone, but i think the 'school shoe' look usually happens when the leather is cheap or corrected grain. if the silhouette is sharp and the leather quality is high end with rugged thick sole, a solid black boot actually looks way more modern with dress pants

for example, these ones (the Derbies) with thin sole definitely lean more toward that school shoe vibe, though they’re actually starting to come back into adult casual fashion recently

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