Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati split-toe monkstrap in caramel-colored Radica 03 calfskin with a combination leather/rubber sole (17194, 697 last). Gravati actually has a couple of different leather/rubber soles. One, called the Beverly, has a leather toe and forward part of the heel, with everything else contoured rubber. This rubber is glued onto a leather midsole; so, except for the soles, the shoes are made like any other Blake or Blake/Rapid footwear. Gravati calls the other Centrogomma (my spelling may be off), which, as you Italian experts will recognize, means something along the lines of "center rubber". These soles are mostly leather, but the center of the sole is cut out and a plug of rubber is sewn in. This provides more traction than a regular leather sole, but it also has another benefit: it allows for thick soles to be very flexible. That's the principal reason why Jim Pierce at Harold's in the Heights has taken to ordering most of his Gravati stock with this sole: he can get a beefy-looking sole when the style of the shoe calls for it without it feeling like a beefy sole, which helps him sell shoes. And it mostly benefits those that he sells the shoes to, too.

Evening

Gravati austerity brogue bal in red-brown (Larice) Lama calf with double leather soles (14953, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Edward Green double monkstraps with a pie-crust-style handsewn apron seam and a reversed, ghosted toe seam in an medium brown antiqued calfskin (EG calls it burnt pine antique) with double leather soles (Fulham model, 82 last). One reason that I wore these shoes today, aside from the undeniable virtuosity of the design, was that I am considering another EG shoe order, and I wanted to confirm my impressions of the 82 last before I ordered something new on it. 82, you will recall, is the narrow round-toe last that Tony Gaziano designed for EG. It being a Gaziano-designed last, it's a bit on the long side, at least when compared to other EG lasts. Aesthetically, it's also my favorite, at least right now. In any event, if you're between two sizes in other EG lasts, I would go with the smaller of the two on 82.

Evening

Gravati bal austerity brogues in red-brown Lama calf -- Gravati calls the color larice -- with double leather soles (14953, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Edward Green bespoke bals with a U-throat and diamond cap done in pie-crust-style handsewing. I have mentioned before that I tend to wear down the toes of my soles faster than any other part, so I have started to get steel tips on my bespoke shoes. It stops that kind of wear in its tracks, but the downside is that it sounds like I'm wearing tap shoes when I walk on hard floors. Maybe if I had the grace of Fred Astaire, this wouldn't be a problem.

Evening

Gravati bal austerity brogues in red-brown Lama calfskin (14953, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Martegani perforated wholecut bal in tan calf. Ron Rider's inspiration for this shoe was a John Lobb St. James design, and I think that this one is prettier than the Lobb shoe (although the fact that it's an unlined wholecut with a bunch of perforations may make it more prone to stretching than the Lobb shoe). I don't wear it much, but given the temperatures that we've been seeing, I thought that today would be a perfect day. Alas, even the perforations don't give much relief in this kind of weather.

Evening

Gravati austerity brogue bal in a red-brown Lama calf, Goodyear-welted with a double leather sole (14953, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Cleverley bespoke three-eyelet plain-toe bluchers in 18th Century Russian Reindeer. The shoes are just beautiful, if I do say so myself. It is mighty stiff, though.

Evening

Gravati austerity brogue bal in a red-brown Lama calf (14953, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

Gravati austerity brogues in larice (chestut brown) Lama (14953, last 640). No, the shoes to the left are not the shoes I'm wearing today, although I do own a pair of them, too. I included the picture to illustrate what an austerity brogue is: a wing-tip bal, only without any of the broguing (punching) that one typically sees on such a shoe. The story is that austerity brogues originated in Great Britain during World War I as a war-time measure to save leather: on a wing-tip with broguing, there has to be a piece of leather underneath the entirety of the wing cap so that the holes and backed by a finished piece of leather and don't look silly. Not so an austerity brogue: the piece of leather comprising the vamp can end just past where it is stitched to the wing cap. How much leather this would have saved, I don't know. I can't imagine that it would have been very much, especially since no self-respecting Briton would have worn a wing-tip in town anyway. The shoes that I'm wearing today comprise my other pair of Goodyear-welted Gravatis. These were a special order, and the only thing that I regret is having them made on the 640 last. Something narrower like the 500 would have been better. Alas.