Lemaire Square Flat Ballerina Shoe- Chocolate Brown

A square toe changes the geometry of a flat more than it sounds like it should. A round toe follows the shape of the foot and reads as soft; a square one cuts across it and gives the shoe a flat front edge, which makes the whole shoe read as a drawn rectangle and lengthens the line of the leg rather than rounding it off. It is the difference between a shoe that disappears and a shoe that is quietly a shape. Everything else is stripped out: no hardware, no ornament, no visible fastening, and a plain topline. That leaves the leather and the last to do all of the work, which is a demanding way to make a shoe because there is nothing to look at except whether the proportions are right. Chocolate brown is the harder color to get right and the more useful one to own, since a warm brown flat does something with navy, cream, olive, and grey that a black flat cannot.

A plain square-toed flat in a good brown is genuinely difficult to find, because most houses either round the toe or add a fitting to it. This one does neither.

Lemaire tends to make the version of a familiar shoe with the ornament removed, and this is that.

Leather, made in Portugal, in chocolate brown. We hold no percentage composition and no leather type for this shoe, so the description above stays with the shape and the finish rather than making claims about the hide itself.

A square toe gives a different room profile from a round one: more space across the ends of the toes and less at the outer corners, so it suits a squarer foot particularly well and can feel tight at the little toe on a narrow, tapered one. A flat with no fastening relies on the topline to stay on, so it should feel secure at the heel from the first wear. We do not hold a size chart for Lemaire footwear.

The flat front edge is what to show, so this works with a cropped or ankle-length trouser and with skirts, and it is wasted under anything full-length. Chocolate brown against navy is the pairing worth trying first, and it is better with warm neutrals than with a hard black.

Leather flats with an unlined or lightly lined construction will take the shape of the foot and keep it, so rotate them and let them dry fully between wears. Wipe clean, condition sparingly, and use a specialist rather than a household product for anything more. Our fabric care guide covers leather, suede, and nubuck.

The Micro Ballerina Flat is the round-toed alternative, and the Glove Ankle Boot is the boot. Everything we carry from Lemaire is listed together.