"Unshined shoes are the end of civilization. It happens that all the men in my life - my father, my husband, my two sons, my grandsons - have been big shoeshine boys. Reed had shoes of Russian calf, and in London he had our butler polish them for five years or so with cream and rhinoceros horn until they were the essence of really "contented" leather. Only then did he wear them. I don't know if Russian calf still exists, but don't forget - everything we did in those days was for forever. And it was a very normal thing for English gents to use rhinoceros horn on fine leather. Leather is alive and lives as it is kept."
-DV. by Diana Vreeland
6 comments:
Hey! I recognize those shoes!
Sorry to be a pedant, but technically speaking it's not russian "calf". "Russia" is actually reindeer skin that has been treated with birch oil; as it came from Russia, it took the name of that country of origin (just as in the same way as goatskin is called "morocco"). It was used extensively as a bookbinding material during the mid-19th century, and as any bookdealer who handles this stuff will tell you, unless it's been fastidiously looked after, it tends to disintegrate pretty rapidly, leaving brown-red marks everywhere (especially on expensive suits). No wonder then that these shoes required so much polishing - it was the one sure way of keeping the shoes intact!
If rhino horn is the only way to properly care for Russian Calk, it's a good thing that use of the leather is not too widespread. There are enough pressures already on the poor myopic beasts and they do not gently give up their horns. I guess if one has close connections with a zoological park, one might get a horn that way. Otherwise, one should be required to take the horn while the beast is alive and awake. It'a only fair!
I believe that in North America deer antler was (and is) used to 'bone' shoes.
The Chinese would be aghast at such flippant use of precious rhino horn. They used it for esthetic--artworks, etc--as well as medical purposes.
I believe its "medical" use as an aphrodisiac gave rise to the word "horny" :)
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