Simple shoes, done well

Being laid-back's an art form -- struggle to appear not to care, and people will assume your lifestyle's contrived, but settle too naturally into shiftlessness, and people will assume you're Italy. Get perfectly laid-back, with footwear from Pointer. From a London-based team, Pointer's a line of uncomplicated but still expertly designed casual shoes created as a reaction to what they consider excessively hyped limited-edition sneakers, though you can't beat that outtake of Ben Kingsley saying "The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by...by...fried chicken? Ha ha! Please take my Oscar back!" Low-cut kicks include the leather/canvas (or suede) upper AFD with a thick white trim on the sole, the boating-style Barjas II (canvas/ leather/ nubuck mix with a molded cup sole), and the suede toe-capped, indoor court style Fairbank, which thanks to being vulcanized, doesn't believe soles are logical. Hi-tops span from the stitch-down soled Cyril II (made from tumbled, nubuck, and full-grain leathers), to the nautically detailed, chocolate/mahogany Taylor, whose padded collars hopefully won't help your feet fall asleep on airplanes. The closest thing to formal is the all-leather, black or brown, "psychedelic" rubber-soled loafer called the Tangu, which could be named for a people who long ago controlled Mongolia's trade routes, or for a Papua New Guinean tribe -- appear not to care which it is, and nobody will assume it's contrived.