Is It Worth Taking the Plunge on Espadrilles?

Pop quiz, hotshot: It’s 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius) out—and that's where you’re heading. You’re stepping out someplace relaxed enough that an Oxford shoe or a derby would feel excessively stuffy. Yet it won’t do the trick to lace up a pair of sneakers. What do you do?

If by land, there’s the driving shoe. Its nubbed sole and moccasin stylings offer a snazzy combo of sportiness and propriety. But with every further step from your parked Alfa Romeo, they look more and more a silly pretension. And if your natural automotive habitat is the backseat of a hired car, they are a very silly affectation, indeed.