Farmers in the Scottish Highlands and in Ireland originated the craft of brogueing to allow water to seep out of their shoes after sloshing through a soggy bog. Now strictly decorative, they are carefully placed along the seams of a shoe, or in the upper front portion of the toe. The Prince of Wales first made shoes with brogueing fashionable for city folk in the 1930s.

Oxford shoes are divided into three identifiable sub styles based on the amount and the arrangement of these punchings, normally ranging in size from 1/8 to 1/25 of an inch across:

I The "medallion brogue oxford"  a plain shoe where only the toecap has been decorated.

2 The "semi-brogue oxford"  a shoe that may or may not have decoration over part or all of the double stitching, but will always have a straight line decoration on the toecap.

3 The "full-brogue oxford"  or wing tip: a shoe where the decoration is shaped like a bird with outstretched wings, with further decoration extending along the double stitched seams from the front cap to the heel of the shoe.

The more brogueing found on a shoe, the more casual it becomes. It is, therefore, inappropriate for a man to wear a shoe with either semi- or full-brogueing after six o'clock in the evening. When an oxford shoe is worn after six, it must be plain and black.

If the man in your life is starting out on a new career and can only afford to buy one pair of quality shoes, make it the Balmoral oxford in black leather with a plain cap. This one pair of shoes will carry him comfortably through his office day into your most enchanted evenings together.