2009 Sep 09: Dress Boots

Italian leather boots so wonderful they attract a heavenly halo of light. With a navy blue pin-stripe suit, ivory-topped mahogany walking stick, and bowler derby I shall be all set for a night on the town.

2009 Aug 10: more wingtips

These are my newer wingtips; I have a thing for wingtips. They are as fancy as men's dress shoes can get and still be considered "conservative", curlicues, punches hole decorations not-withstanding. These are just cheap shoes from Kohl's, (yes, my sister at JCPenney just issued a psychic shriek) because frankly, with the rubber outsole and cushioned insole, they are really comfy. More comfy than the much more stylish Bostonians with their hard leather sole.

The leather is weird though, I believe it's made from that vinyl impregnated leather I read about (can't find the article at the moment). It squeaks when you rub it against itself, stays kind of shiny, and has a generally plasticky feel, a different plasticky feel than traditional patent leather, which tends to crack and scuff over time. It's definitely leather, but if it came off the poor cow in this state, well... poor cow!

2009 Aug 07: Bostonian Black Wingtips

The first time I ever travelled to Europe, I experienced a fashion dissonance so profound it changed my life. There, out in public, men, gay men, men I knew, men I consorted with, men who are purported to be the definers of good taste, were wearing dress shoes, classic black leather shoes with leather soles, with jeans. Dungarees. Denim. It was like capers on cheez-wiz, Grandmother's pearls with a tie-died t-shirt dress. It was very unsettling, and yet, somehow, appealing. It was as if they'd gotten their American fashion sensibility from watching Hollywood movies, and in movies, they never show feet, so they were left to fill in the gap.

Today I am wearing black Bostonian wingtips, 8.5 US wide. I have a predilection towards that brand because (a) they have wide widths, and (b) they have a very traditional, almost victorian style. It's hard to find proper leather-soled shoes anymore, that don't cost hundreds of dollars.