Blue

The Roman senators wore black shoes, and until sometime in the the late 19th or early twentieth century so did every boot or shoe-wearing man in England. There was a reason that polish was called boot black in those days after all. But once brown shoes were introduced and began to be worn in the English countryside, there was no turning back. Color had come to shoes.

Today, the conservative man continues to wear black shoes with his business garb. But the technology to color shoes was invented for the fairer sex, and experimental men have been using it in their shoe closets. In the top photograph, a pair of midnight blue elastic sided slipons at the fitting stage. They are so dark that they are visibly blue only in bright light. That is not however true of the pair in the second photo.

Now that the Rubicon has been crossed of course, there is no telling where we may be headed. Parisian makers like Corthay have been using color for some time now. And according to George Glasgow at G. J. Cleverley & Co,, nearly a third of the shoes ordered by their Singapore customers this year were blue.

Green may be next.

Photos: G. J. Cleverley & Co.