Black Paraboot Michael are a key component of French Ivy. I read that somewhere. I have a pair of 1960s black Bostonian Venetian loafers which I got deadstock from the Blessed Zachary of Cambridge Mass. in the first great Ivy Revival Wave of 2009. It's the only black I could wear on my feet. John and Ian lectured me for hours on the unshakable doctrine of brown shoes for Ivy and it has left its mark. But hang on - didn't Strachan wear black Sebagos now and again...?

He (Ian S) definitely sported the black Sebago, but not that often.

Without wishing to begin a new thread (I detect the ghost of Woof, lurking, close by), can anyone shed light on the Japanese/Korean liking for highly-polished black shoes?  I mean by this: what are their preferences?  American made?  Or traditional English?

The loafer-coloured sock combo was something we did at school circa 1972, during the drift to, yes, suedehead and 'smooth'.  Not only red, white and yellow but also lime green and orange with black hoops.  These sartorial horrors came off a local market stall and were much favoured by herberts wearing 'Budgie' jackets.  But loafers were never seen as much at our school as DMs.  Almost always ox blood or cherry red.  Awful look, awful period of my life.

I'm indebted to Runninggeez for this information.  The Japanese are perhaps the most interesting chaps in terms of contemporary Ivy dressing.  They never seem to do things by halves, do they?  I'm not surprised by the countries of origin named above.  My experience of Weston and Paraboot has been limited and not wholly satisfactory, but the C&J I owned around fifteen years ago (and sold to a Swede) seemed to me a serious-minded shoe.
I was enchanted by the gentleman on YouTube (even if he was a little long-winded and off-target), discussing 'Mr.Bill Evans' and would have been pleased had he given 'Mr.Cal Tjader' similiar attention. 
But I continue to see the flexibility and appeal of the brown shoe.