Today's Shoes

Day

GJ Cleverley bespoke split-toe bluchers with a handsewn apron and toe seam in Russian reindeer calf with double leather soles.

See those shoe trees? They're made from the last that these shoes were made on (to provide an exact fit for the shoe) out of light-weight unvarnished wood. I don't know who actually made the trees (Cleverley almost certainly did not), but there's a reasonably good chance that it was Spring Line. Spring Line is a Northampton company that is an integral but little-known part of the British shoe industy, providing products for both the ready-to-wear and bespoke trade. In addition to lasted shoe trees, they also provide finished lasts and rough-turn lasts (the latter being the basic last shape that a lastmaker then works down to produce the finished lasts) to bespoke makers (none of the big-name West End bespoke makers use the finished lasts). For the ready-to-wear makers, they will grade lasts (ie, duplicate a particular "master" last in all of the different sizes and widths that the maker needs) and duplicate lasts (because ready-to-wear manufacturers need lots and lots of lasts) in either wood or plastic.

Evening

John Lobb Paris split-toe penny loafer in dark brown pebble-grain calf with a single leather sole (Campus model, 3198 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Edward Green chasse bluchers with pie-crust-style handsewing on the apron and a ghosted toe seam in antiqued tan calf (EG calls it Edwardian Antique) with a double leather sole (Dover model, 808 last). The shoes to the left are Dovers on the 808 last, but they're in a leather that EG calls Brandy Willow, not Edwardian Antique. The pictures that I could find online of shoes in Edwardian were significantly lighter in color than mine, which points out an important fact about Edward Green: there is a tremendous of variation in their different colors (except for black) because most of that color is hand-applied during the finishing stage. My Edwardian Dovers are about the same color as my Chestnut Antique shoes, but that's not typical. 808 last was Edward Green's first attempt to update the classic 88 last, and I believe that it started being made in the late '90s. It apparently did not fit most feet very well because they quickly replaced it with the Tony Gaziano-designed 888 last. I like it, though. It fits me well, and it offers a more shapely square toe than the 606 without being as severe as the 888.

Evening

John Lobb Paris split-toe penny loafer in dark brown pebble-grain calf with a single leather sole (Campus model, 3198 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gaziano & Girling modified adelaide half-brogue bal in fox suede with a single leather sole (Hughes model, DG70 last). I continue to be impressed by the quality of these shoes and the attractiveness of the last. The only thing that I can complain about it that it's not quite full enough around the instep, which means that the laces are more open than I would prefer.

Evening

John Lobb Paris split-toe penny loafer in dark brown pebble-grain calf (Campus model, 3198 last).

Today's Shoes

Day

Gravati punch cap high-lace balmoral ankle boots in dark brown calf (10278, 683 last). A person can't have too many high-lace boots, I say. I was considering today whether it would be a good idea to have this pattern made up with a wing cap instead of a straight cap, and I concluded that it was not. A plain toe would work, however.

Evening

John Lobb Paris split-toe penny loafer in dark brown pebble grain calf (Campus model, 3198 last).