Today's Shoes

Borgioli split-toe bluchers with a short apron and Norvegese construction in tan calf. The shoes to the right are made by Sutor Mantellassi and represent the look that I was going for when I placed this special order, although the design itself is a classic Italian one that many makers produce. Norvegese construction is, paradoxically, an Italian specialty and consists of the upper leather being turned out onto the sole edges, with a row of stitching affixing the upper leather to the sole there. There is then either a single row or two braided rows of stitching attaching the upper to the insole of the shoe. This manner of construction makes the shoe especially waterproof, but that's not the reason that the Italians like to use it so much. They like it because it's flashy and it shows off the shoemaker's skill very well in a way that would not be possible with standard Goodyear construction. The Borgioli shoes are extremely well-made, almost as well as the Mantellassi model that I intended for them to imitate. The only bad thing about them is that they don't fit particularly well, a result, I think, of the fact that Borgioli does not have separate sets of lasts for European and American production. American feet, you see, are typically different from European feet: they're narrower, particularly in the heel, and they usually have lower insteps. I don't have a low instep, but I do have a narrow heel, the result of which being that my beautiful Borgioli Norwegians slip there and prevent me from wearing them for very long at a stretch. Oh, well. Such is life.