Very Chicago

George Glasgow Jr. of G.J.Cleverley sent along these photos of elastic sided black and white spectators with the classic Cleverley square toe and faux lacing.


About $2800 ex VAT (2,100 GPB with VAT) including shoe trees. But not for the faint of heart.


P.S. Readers in the UK may see ASW in the "top ten fashion blogs" list in the Guardian's Sunday Observer Magazine tomorrow.

G&G On the Way

Thought it might be timely to call attention to two models of Gaziano & Girling shoes that will be in stock at the ASW store in the not too distant future.

The ASW City Shoe will be a new run of the semi-formal oxford ASW introduced two years ago. It was no surprise that roughly half of the shoes made at that time were delivered to diplomatic addresses in the U.S. and Europe as the City Shoe is highly compatible with semi-formal and formal day wear. It also looks great with a blazer and gray flannels.


Near the opposite end of the formality spectrum is the Suitable Slip-on, which we also pioneered that year. In fox suede, it looks stylish with casual suits and odd jackets and is a great shoe for air travel.

Each model is $1,100 for a pair, including metal toe taps and lasted mahogany shoe trees (there is no tax or shipping charged for deliveries in the United States). A small deposit holds a pair and most customers will experience just a fraction of the wait time required for conventional made to order shoes. Interested parties should email.

Immediate Shoe Gratification

Some of the world's finest ready to wear shoes are tucked away in London's Royal Arcade. Constructed on on standard lasts to near bespoke quality, George Cleverley's Anthony Cleverley line is a hard to find offering of the very best English shoes without the usual five or six month wait.



Though Anthony Cleverley models can be made to order in a variety of colors and skins, new ready to wear offerings for 2010 include a version of the Forte casual (in the photos) in a brown pebble grain, a tassel casual in brown buckskin, and an elastic sided slipon in dark brown calf.

Current pricing for the range is 950 GBP or approximately $1,295 ex VAT inclusive of lasted shoe trees. And they are available for immediate gratification.

The Patination of Brown

Few elements in a man's daily dress are as interesting as the sight of a richly patinated pair of highly polished brown shoes, like the 45 year old brogued casuals from W. S. Foster & Son in the photograph.

Shoes should be polished because the gleam of the leather complements the silk of the necktie as the two light-reflecting elements of the day's clothes. That polish also lets us manage the amount of patination over time. A wax or cream that is slightly lighter than the shoe will keep the color relatively constant over the years, and that can be exactly what we want for summer shoes. For the rest of the shoe wardrobe, a darker shade of polish will darken the shoe, adding to the antiqued look.

That variegated finish does not come with black. It is the province of the brown shoe, and should usually be encouraged

Photo: W. S. Foster

The Dirty Little Secret

Made to order clothing's dirty little secret is that a man has to be prepared to absorb the cost of periodic failures. After all, he is ordering from swatches, and not every decision will prove to be correct.

Case in point, the otherwise beautifully executerd Gaziano & Girling slip-ons in the photo, which were intended as a prototype for an ASW casual shoe offering with a textured apron. Sadly, neither the colors or the textures work well enough together.

They may be wearable given enough brown polish but for now it is back to the drawing board.

High Gloss Was Hard Work

Polishing shoes was a considerably more arduous task before the Second World War and the development of modern tanning processes. The standard leather used for bespoke men's shoes pre-war was waxed calf, which is the rough reversed side of the hide that is now used for suede.

Waxed calf can be brought to a high gloss similar to that of patent leather but the cost is literally weeks of polishing with a deer bone. Indeed, the late Diana Vreeland joked that her husband's pre-war shoes would be polished by his valet for five years before they were suitable for wear. Without a valet, few men would voluntarily subject themselves to the task.

Much tougher than the leathers currently used for good quality shoes, waxed calf is today used for work shoes and for riding boots like the pair of bespoke boots by London bootmaker Henry Maxwell in the photo. Scratches in the surface are boned out until the boot looks as good as new.

Photo: Henry Maxwell

Tasty

Thanks to Jesse Thorne at Put This On for introducing me to INVENTORY, perhaps the tastiest contemporary clothing scene I have so far encountered on the Web.

Inventory has been working with a few smaller manufacturers, such as American tie maker Alexander Olch, to produce an edited selection of items for sale. My personal favorite is a brilliantly conceived pair of blue suede shoes with red brick soles. $350.

Beautiful Shoes, Terrible Photo

Emma Lakin of shoemakers W. S. Foster & Son is visiting the City this week, bringing with her for fitting the first iteration of some slip-on shoes commissioned last summer.

Lacking the support of laced shoes around the top of the foot, bespoke slip-ons are usually made on a separate last. Most makers want to check the first pair from any last on the client's feet before attaching the upper to the sole, and that is what brought these unfinished beauties to San Francisco.

Bridge problems around the Bay meant it was evening before shoes and feet were brought together, which was part of the reason for the lack of photographic documentation of the fitting itself. Suffice it to say that the toe box on the right foot will be ever so slightly larger, and the heel area of the left shoe tightened to prevent slippage before they are delivered after the new year. The soles will be thin, and finished with squared edges.

Throughout the fitting, Emma and the shoes did their parts and the camera did not. Why it chose to focus on the sofa instead of the shoes is mystery. Beautiful shoes, terrible photo. Fortunately, I do have a picture of the sample.

Every Man Should Have a Pair

In the most formal of clothing lexicons, slip-on shoes are for wear about the house or with casual clothing outdoors in summer. Needless to say, that useage has gone out of fashion, and slip-on shoes are often worn with suits in the United States, Italy, and other countries other than England. The default style is arguably the Alden tassel moccasin, a perfectly fine shoe with an odd jacket but technically no better than a penny loafer under a suit.

The challenge with slip-ons is of course that their low cut decreases their formality and does not offer the support or protection from the elements of a laced shoe. But not all slip-ons are low sided. Bespoke shoe makers as well as a few of the better ready to wear firms such as Edward Green and Gaziano & Girling offer slip-on shoes that are the near equivalent of their laced brethren in terms of both form and function. That equivalency comes from higher sides than the casual slip-on, accompanied by elastic that allows them to be slid on and off of the foot for airport security.

Unlike low sided slip-ons, elastic sided designs like the George Cleverley bespoke sample in the photo usually feature enough brogueing to look somewhat like a laced dress shoe while preserving the slip-on's convenience. Every suit-wearing travelling man should have a pair, in my opinion.

Wearable Art

At the highest level, clothing should be enjoyed for its beauty. And of the things potentially in a man's closet, bespoke shoes are for me simply wearable art.

In the photograph, a pair of bespoke samples by Gaziano & Girling.

No Imposters These

On my way into the George Cleverley trunk show in San Francisco the other day I was accosted by a man who introduced himself as George Glasgow. Well I know George, the managing director of that firm, and this was not he so I laughingly accused him of being an imposter. The real George Glasgow who was hiding around the corner put me straight. I had just met George Glasgow Jr., the man in the photo, who was travelling with his father.


I was visiting to renew acquaintances as well as check out Cleverley's new Anthony Cleverley line of made to order shoes. Seven very attractive models are priced at £950 including shoe trees and VAT (approximately $1,325 USD ex VAT). At that pricing they fall between Cleverley's ready to wear and semi-bespoke ranges and its more expensive bespoke shoes.


The Forte casual (under the brown shoe) with a hand-stitched apron is a particularly elegant slipon to my eye, though I prefer not to have a cutout in the band across the apron, and like the other Anthony Cleverley models it displays an obvious Tuczek heritage. It might perhaps be more appropriate for wear with chinos in a shade of brown like the (bespoke) shoe that rests on top of it though. Or so I hope will be the case when I see it come to life this coming January in London.

No imposters these.

Maintenance: Suede Shoes

One of the advantages of suede shoes over their polished calf relations is that they require far less care so long as one keeps them out of torrential downpours. Just brush them periodically with a suede brush in the direction of the nap and then paint the edges. If any spots on the nap resist the brush, don't work too hard on the spot and wear the nap away. The shoes probably need a shampoo instead.

Darker Shoes for the Season

The brown Adelaide brogues in the photo came out of storage the other day for the first time since March. They and the boots have replaced the spectators, white bucks and tan shoes of summer in the active rotation.

The shade that most makers call chestnut is useful as a rough boundary between spring and fall shoe colors. In the sunshine of spring, chestnut tends to be as dark a brown as a man needs, with some exception granted to chocolate brown suede. And in the gloomier days of fall and winter, it fills the reverse role as the lightest shade in the closet. Generally, dark oak and espresso look better.

Autumn is here. Wear darker brown shoes.

The Blazer Shoe

The strap and buckle shoe is the perfect footwear for the navy blazer, in my opinion. If the blazer and gray flannels are not quite a suit, what could be more appropriate than a great looking shoe that is not quite suitable for wear with a suit?

More commonly known as the monk strap, the chestnut strap and buckle makes a good sixth pair of dress shoes in a wardrobe. Like the blazer, it will do for the office when it must, but it is more comfortable dressed up on the weekend.

And there it shines. Give me a mottled brown monk strap toe under my flannels and I am a happy man.

Photo: Edward Green

Patched Shoes

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Europe

Reader Eric called this photo to my attention a few days ago. HRH Prince Charles is wearing a pair of (presumeably) older bespoke shoes, and the shoes have been patched.

Well, if I had ever seen patched shoes before they definitely were not on the feet of a prince. So I wrote Tony Gaziano of Gaziano & Girling to ask if this is a common sight among England's bespoke set.

Tony replied that patches are not an uncommon practice for older bespoke shoes. When the leather eventually rots and splits around the vamp it leaves a hole or tear. As Tony put it, "When the customer is so in love with the shoe that he does not want to throw it away, or even if he is try to save a few pounds by giving the shoe longer life, then we stitch a leather patch on the uppers, looking almost like a band aid/plaster. To be honest it looks better on black which is ok because most of the guys that would have this done come from an era where only black shoes were worn."

I learn something new every day.

Maple Mitchells

Arriving just before the end of summer gun is this pair of Gaziano & Girling Mitchells in vintage maple calf on the MH71 last. The Mitchell is a relatively modern form of brogue where, instead of the traditional method of punching holes into strips of leather that are attached to the shoe, smaller punches are made directly into the body. The result is a cleaner looking design that goes well with lighter tones.

Sadly, these are specialty shoes for many men as their color is likely inappropriate for conservative settings. For the rest of us, they slide nicely into the summer rotation. In my opinion, maple shoes look their best next to the equally pale trousers of summer, particularly light gray and light blue. Men more influenced by the South of Italy may wear them with navy, but I think that a shade too far.

Suits and Socks, Installment XVI

In today's photo the left foot is colored accurately but the socks are washed out and the shoe is somewhat obscured by its own blackness. On the other foot, so to speak, the shoe is washed out by the light but the details are more visible and the coloring of the sock is accurate. Click on the photo for an enlarged view.

Edward Green bespoke made by Tony Gaziano before he left to co-found Gaziano & Girling, these are lightly constructed bluchers for summer wear. They are paired with gray and white patterned socks and the trousers to a mid-gray pick and pick suit.

Of Stingray and Antelope

Dimitri Gomez is one of a handful of the world's best bespoke shoe makers. He works by himself in a space within the Crockett & Jones store in Paris.


Gomez is one of the few makers who makes a fitting shoe (the black shoe in the photo) before he begins work on the final product. The fitting shoe is open, so he can see exactly how foot and shoe are interacting.


A man who obviously enjoys his work with exotic skins, Dimitri is holding a pair of golf shoes in blue stingray and white antelope which, sadly, are considerably more expensive than the regular bespoke quality calf offerings. The other pair is crocodile.

Bespoke shoes begin at €2500 including VAT (about $3,100 ex VAT for visitors from outside the EU). When he has time, Gomez will also hand make shoes to existing patterns on standard lasts for €1200 (about $1,500 ex VAT). To my mind that latter option may be the best shoe value in Europe.

Orders require four to six months as well as a minimum of two further visits to Paris, for fitting and then pick-up of the final product. Packing and shipping services are not available. Dimitri would rather make another pair of shoes than take time to ship a pair he has already made, and who can blame him?

In George Hamilton's Footsteps

I paid a visit to shoemaker W.S. Foster & Sons the other day in search of a mid-brown leather for a pair of oxfords, and departed unfulfilled but happy.

I had been corresponding with Foster's Miss Emma Lakin about a particular tone that I had seen on some shoes made for Charlie Watts but it was not available at this time. While we talked, I perused actor George Hamilton's last.


The wear on the bottom is from the nails used to hold the upper on to the last as each pair of shoes is made. The Hamilton last has seen quite a bit of use.

Bespoke customers generally have two lasts, or at least the customers that get both slip-ons and laced shoes from their makers do as each of these styles requires its own for a proper fit.


I will be a two last customer at Foster's after deciding that the rare piece of dark brown Freudenberg leather that Ms. Lakin was so enthusiastic about would be a more useful part of my wardrobe as a slip-on shoe. And so we agreed on a model I had admired in the past: a cap toe with two curved lines of brogueing that is formal enough to wear with suits.


Since it requires a new last, the slip-on, which is the shoe in the lower left of the photo, will also require a fitting. That means I shall see my shoes some time in 2010.

Perhaps Mr. Hamilton will find further use for his last while I wait.

Going Out of Business Sale at SW1

Sadly, Milan's elegant SW1 shoe store, which brought us the Hampton (left) and Sloop slip-ons in the photo, is closing its doors on June 25.

The little bit of sunshine that accompanies this news is that they are having a going out of business sale, and their Grandi Maestri Italiani line is 50% off. Prices range from 140 Euros $197) ex VAT for the Sloop and Hampton and 175 Euros ($246) ex VAT for other models. The company ships to most countries around the world.

There were about 175 pair remaining as of a day or two ago. Interested parties should contact the company at info@sw1.it. They speak fluent English as well as Italian.