Today's Shoes

Day

Cleverley bespoke side-elastic shoes with handsewn apron in burgundy calf. George Cleverley's trademark shoe model was a side-elastic shoe. Tony Gaziano, formerly a lastmaker at Cleverley and Edward Green and now one of the principals in Gaziano & Girling, tells me that that was partially out of laziness. On side-elastic shoes, the last doesn't have to be as perfect because the elastic gores will cause the vamp of the shoe to conform to the foot even when the fit is slightly off. This may be true, but side-elastic shoes are tremendously useful. They can be made in just about any style that a lace-up shoe can be made in, and they're just about as formal as the equivalent lace-up shoe. But because they have no laces, they're easy on and easy off (a useful feature when traveling by air). More than that, they're more comfortable because there are no laces to dig into the wearer's instep. And you don't have to worry about the laces coming untied.

Evening

Vass wingtip bluchers in burgundy shell cordovan on Banana last. Shell cordovan is a leather tanned from a subcutaneous membrane in the rump of a horse. It's very tough and weather-resistant, but it's known and loved by many because of the patina it takes on with age. It is not very porous, which means that dyes do not permeate it very thoroughly. With wear and buffing, regions of a shoe made from shell cordovan will lighten, giving the shoe an attractive variegated appearance. Shell cordovan also takes an outstanding shine. Traditionally, it was used for razor strops and laborers' shoes; but its status rose immeasurably after it was used for US Army paratroopers' jump boots in World War II. Burgundy shell cordovan (usually called Color #8) is by far the most common, but one can get it in black, dark brown, mahogany, tan, blue, green, and other colors. Horween, based in Chicago, is by far the best tanner of shell cordovan; and all high-quality shell cordovan shoes use Horween material. Mr. Vass does not like to work with the stuff because it is easy to split when being lasted, but he really has no choice: Germany is an extremely important market for him, and the Germans love shell cordovan.