Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

Last week, you answered a Valentine’s Day question from a woman who is giving the holiday another chance. I have a similar dilemma, from a slightly different perspective. I’m a 28-year-old man who’s found the love of his life, and who now wishes to propose matrimony on Valentine’s Day in a fairly traditional, get-down-on-one-knee sort of way. I’ve got a new gray suit, and I need a pair of new shoes. The question is, brown or black?

Tom

Manolo says, the Manolo applauds your willingness to stick with the most traditional and romanticest form of the proposal, rather than as has become depressingly common, taking your beloved to the Capitals hockey game, and during the second intermission having the Slapshot the Mascot skate out with the ring on his stick, while your visage appears on the Jumbotron, thirty feet tall, pledging eternal love to your deeply embarrassed girlfriend, whom you refer to repeatedly, in glorious amplification, by your own special, little love nickname, “Sugar Butt”.

Trust the Manolo, only the lunatic, or the Hollywood producer (but the Manolo repeats himself) would think that such the spectacular public proposal was the good idea. Better to take your lady friend to the romantically dim little place, where if things do not go well. and you are rejected, you may slink away largely unnoticed by the few diners who are present.

As for the shoes with the gray suit, the Manolo’s choice is brown, which if properly chosen can have the deeper, more luxurious color than the black. Here is the perforated straight tip oxford from Alden in the rich walnut brown color.

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