A dress shoe (U.S. English) is a shoe to be worn at smart casual or more formal events. A dress shoe is typically contrasted to an athletic shoe.

Dress shoes are worn by many as their standard daily shoes, and are widely used in dance, for parties, and for special occasions.

Men's dress shoes are most commonly black or brown. Other possible colors include: burgundy, oxblood, chestnut, cordovan or white. Cordovan or oxblood shoes are worn sometimes in the United States, while the other colours are worn by men of many nationalities. They are all made of leather, usually entirely, including the outers, lining, and sole, though for more durability at the expense of elegance, many shoes are made with rubber soles.

Shoes are usually made with many pieces of leather, and the seams can be decorated in various ways; most revolve around some type of brogueing. Brogues have rows of decorative punching in patterns: full brogues, or wingtips (the standard American name), have a toe cap in a wavy shape, with punched patterns on various sections of the shoe; half brogues have a normal straight edged toe cap and less punching; finally, other terms such as quarter-brogue etc. may be used to describe progressively less brogueing. All of the standard styles below may be brogued.