Today's Shoes

Vass Theresianer punch-cap high-lace boots in tobacco suede with single leather soles (F last). The boots pictured above are very similar to mine, but the ones pictured lack a punch-cap and have two more sets of speed-lacing hooks than mine do. What I really wanted was a pair of high-lace punch-cap bal boots, but Vass apparently doesn't have a bal boot pattern. So I had to settle for these. They're still pretty good, although I'm probably destined to buy the Edward Green Shannon.

Today's Shoes

Day

Vass Theresianer high-lace punch-cap blucher boots with a rows of broguing along the edge of the quarters and behind the eyelets in tobacco suede with single leather soles (F last). The boots pictured above are made in identical suede and on the same last as mine, but they lack the broguing that my boots have. I would very much like to have the same sort of boot in an identical suede only as a balmoral boot instead of a blucher.

Evening

Gravati three-eyelet half-brogue blucher with modified U throat in antiqued tan calfskin with a thick combination leather/rubber sole (16407, 640 last).

Today's Shoes

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Vass high-lace wingtip blucher boots in dark brown calfskin with a single leather sole (F last). The boot pictured above is actually one of mine, although I didn't take the picture. A friend of mine recently got the same pattern on the same last in Color #8 shell cordovan with double soles for wear as winter boots, and he absolutely loved them. I can see why, although I think that a single sole is the way to go with these -- a single sole fits with the sleekness of the last and the narrowness of the toe.

Evening

Alden saddle bals in Color #8 shell cordovan with a single leather sole (model 994, Barrie last). This is one of the few regular-production shell cordovan models that Alden makes with a single sole. I wish that they would make more -- there's no reason why shell cordovan shoes all have to be double-soled gunboats.

Today's Shoes

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Vass high-lace wingtip blucher boots in dark brown calfskin with single leather soles (F last). The combination of last -- the slim, rounded-toe F -- and the single sole combine to make this very much a city boot. There is an old rule that one should not wear bluchers with a suit (a rule that I don't believe in and ignore), but if ever the rulemakers make an exception, it would be for these boots. A friend of mine recently received an order of these boots in Color #8 shell cordovan with double leather soles to wear as bad weather boots in the winter in New York City, and he tells me that the effect is completely different. The shell cordovan and the double sole conspire to make the boot look much more rugged and rustic. All of which goes to illustrate that this is another of the chameleon shoe models.

Evening

Martegani three-eyelet wholecut size-lace shoes in tobacco waterproof suede with heavy single leather soles (3B last). These shoes are my second attempt at replicating the original Cleverley model shown above (the Vass hunter's goyser on P2 being the first), and it is a much closer replica. It still isn't the same, though, and I fear that I might have to order a bespoke shoe from Cleverley (or from Gaziano & Girling or Foster's) in order to get the look.

Today's Shoes

Day

Vass punch-cap high-lace blucher boots in tobacco suede with single leather soles (F last).

Evening

Allen-Edmonds punch-cap bals in dark brown suede with single leather soles (Byron model, 4 last). Allen-Edmonds is one of the two remaining quality American manufacturers of men's shoes (Alden is the other); and of the two, AE has the higher profile and the larger distribution. It's hard for American shoe manufacturers to survive because of the expense of making shoes correctly and the unwillingness of most of the American populace to pay for them. Alden has survived by turning itself into a shell cordovan specialist and by developing a cult following in Germany and Japan, where people are willing to pay absurd prices for their shoes. AE has tried a number of different things. For a number of years, they have offered some cheaper Italian-made loafers under their own label. This year, they have introduced another Italian-made line, better-made and better-styled than their American-made line. They also have attempted to keep the line current by introducing new models every season while retiring old ones. The suede Byron is one of the casualties of this model churning strategy, and that's a shame. It's a good shoe, one of the better ones that AE made.