The Unknown Slipon

I wore laced oxfords almost exclusively until recently. These days, with my studio in a small California town, I find myself wearing slipon shoes a couple days a week. I am not entirely alone in that among suit-wearing men either; though slipons are but a quarter of the production of the two bespoke makers I queried that is a larger number than I would have guessed.

Yesterday I saw a pair that caught my eye, a simple new machine-made design by Northampton's Gaziano & Girling. I did not think to get the name of the model, so I have them stored in my mental cupboard as the unknown slipon. Hopefully the description will suffice for ordering a pair, should that prove necessary.

The late Duke of Windsor wore shoes like these, in black and brown calf versions with cream buckskin aprons. I have it on good authority by the way, from the maker's mouth as it were, that his were not bespoke either. Unlike him, I am thinking of tan calf as bespoke quality skins in the lighter leathers are difficult to impossible to find these days and tan is wearable in many sunny day situations where spectators would be over the top.

I can make a case that a man should have slipons made to different standards. There are the wear-them-sockless-for-a-summer shoes that are abused for a season or two and then replaced. And then there are finer versions, intended to be worn year after year with odd jackets and casual suits. At approximately $1,100 a pair including shoe trees these fall into that latter camp, and for men who already know their size the best place to acquire them is Bespoke England in the UK.