Miss Emma Lakin of shoemaker W. S. Foster and Son is visiting San Francisco this week, beginning that firm's spring tour of the United States. She brought with her a pair of wonderfully patinated elastic-sided slipon shoes that began their lives as black in color but are now a sort of variegated sepia.
This particular finish was arrived at accidentally once upon a time, when a pair of black bespoke samples was left in the shop window for many years. Foster offers it intentionally today, for £350 ($500) per pair. Sadly, the shoes cost extra.
Many men have turned away from black shoes in favor of brown, a color that gets richer over the years. Foster's patination, which unfortunately does not occur naturally unless one has a shop window and can afford to wait a decade or two, is the one exception I know of. It is not so basic black.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Not So Basic Black
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8 comments:
Those are definitely beautiful, but part of me thinks it'd be like buying pre-faded jeans.
I do not like them.
The shoes are faded and splotched.
I have to agree with Mr. Seitelman, I don't like them either
I believe the better jean analogy would be "acid-wash".
Curiously, with regard to the jeans comments, that is precisely what I might consider wearing these shoes with. Perhaps a pair of Gardeur pants, a sport shirt, cotton jacket, and linen square. That would make good traveling attire.
I can't imagine where else I might wear such shoes.
Not my idea of a truly black shoe, but a fun shoe for an open-air garden nightclub in Istanbul maybe. Playing with black can be creative; I have a pair of black slip-ons that in their back parts merge into oxblood and look good with an Italian odd jacket with a blue/red/black tweed pattern.
I do like them. Bontoni offers shoes with a similar antiqued patina (for around $1,250). I have a pair and wear them all the time. They go very will with both gray and navy suits. Polishing is a bit of a trick--brown or black will do, but either will trend the shoe in that direction over time. I've been alternating, but I don't think that's a long-term solution. I will probably switch to a neutral polish and hope the color separation (between brown and black regions) says sharp. Does anyone know of a better approach?
I love the style of the shoe, and I like the finish. But I want it to be natural too.
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