How to Lace Men's Dress Shoes for Interviews & Weddings

The morning of an interview, a wedding, or a meeting that matters, most men get the suit right, get the tie right — and lace their dress shoes the same way they laced their trainers at fourteen. It's the one detail nobody teaches, and the one a well-dressed eye notices instantly. The criss-cross most people use is fine for casual shoes. For a formal occasion, there's a cleaner, quieter way to do it.

It's called straight bar lacing — the lacing that produces clean horizontal bars across the shoe with the diagonal lacing hidden underneath. It's the standard for oxfords, the most formal way to lace a dress shoe, and it takes about two minutes to learn. Here's exactly how, plus the small details that separate a sharp shoe from a scruffy one.

Which Lacing Is Correct for Formal Shoes?

For formal and business dress shoes, the correct lacing is straight bar lacing — also called straight lacing, bar lacing, or European lacing. It shows clean horizontal bars across the front of the shoe, with every diagonal crossing hidden on the inside. The effect is minimal, neat, and quietly correct.

The familiar criss-cross lacing — where the laces visibly cross over each other in X shapes — is perfectly fine for trainers and casual shoes. But on a polished oxford with a suit, it reads as a little careless. Straight bar lacing is what you'll see on well-dressed men at weddings, in boardrooms, and on anyone who's thought about it.

How to Lace Oxfords: The Straight Bar Method

This works cleanest on shoes with an even number of eyelet pairs (most oxfords have five or six). Take the laces out completely and start fresh.

If your first attempt isn't perfectly even, pull the lace out and start again. It only has to be done once, and after two tries it becomes automatic.

Oxford vs Derby: It Changes the Lacing

The shoe you're lacing affects how the straight bar sits, because oxfords and derbies are built differently.

• Oxford (closed lacing): The eyelet flaps are stitched under the front of the shoe, so they pull together into a sleek, closed line. This is the most formal dress shoe, and straight bar lacing makes its clean front even cleaner. The right choice for interviews, weddings, and black-tie-adjacent events
• Derby (open lacing): The eyelet flaps sit on top of the front and open outward. Slightly less formal, more forgiving on wider feet. Straight bar lacing still works and still looks sharp, just with a touch more visible structure

For the most formal occasions, an oxford laced with a straight bar is the textbook combination. A derby laced the same way is the versatile everyday version of it.

The Details That Make It Look Sharp

The lacing pattern is most of the job. These small details finish it:

• Hide the knot. Tie a standard bow but tuck the loops down behind the laces or to the sides so they don't flop forward. A neat, low-profile knot looks intentional
• Get the length right. Laces that are too long leave long loops and trailing ends; too short and you can't tie them. For a five-eyelet oxford, around 27 inches (69 cm) is typical; six-eyelet, around 30 inches (76 cm)
• Match the lace to the shoe. Thin, round or flat waxed-cotton dress laces in the same colour as the shoe. Black laces on black oxfords, brown on brown. Never chunky trainer laces
• Keep tension even. Each bar should sit flat with the same snugness. Uneven bars are the giveaway of a rushed job

Common Mistakes Before an Interview

The morning of a big day is exactly when people rush this. The usual errors:

• Defaulting to criss-cross out of habit on a formal shoe
• Long trailing loops from laces that are too long or tied too loosely
• Uneven bars because the lace was rushed and not pulled even
• Wrong lace type — thick, casual laces on a dress shoe undercut the whole look
• Brand-new shoes worn untested, which rub and blister halfway through the day

Lace the shoes the night before, not five minutes before you leave. It's calmer, and you can redo it if the bars aren't even.

Interview, Wedding & Boardroom: Quick Rules

Job interview

Black oxford, straight bar lacing, black laces, knot tucked. Conservative and correct beats interesting. The goal is for nobody to think about your shoes at all — which is exactly what clean lacing achieves.

Wedding

Black oxford for black tie or a formal suit; a polished black or dark brown oxford or derby for a standard suit. Straight bar lacing throughout. If you're in the wedding party, lace all shoes the same way for a uniform look in photos.

Boardroom / high-stakes meeting

Same principle. A clean straight bar on a well-kept oxford signals attention to detail without saying a word — the quiet competence you want to project before you've spoken.

The Shoe Matters as Much as the Lacing

Perfect lacing can't rescue a poor shoe. The lacing is the finishing touch on a shoe that's already right — clean lines, good leather, a polished finish, and a fit that holds the foot so the shoe doesn't gape or crease awkwardly when you walk.

For the occasions that call for straight bar lacing — interviews, weddings, the meetings that matter — the shoe underneath should match the effort. A handmade full-grain oxford holds a sharper line than a glued, corrected-leather one, takes a deeper polish, and is built on a last that keeps the front clean so your careful lacing actually shows.