[Flanderian]

This is a cross post with Timeless Style forum. It is a video review. I'm also posing it here because I know this community as a particular fondness for both shell and longwings.

 

[drpeter]

A brilliant purchase! Congratulations to the chap who runs The Elegant Oxford. I am sorely tempted to get a pair, but at that price, I would have a difficult time buying them without trying them on. I may be spending a little time visiting my nephew and his family in Chicago in the near future, so I may be able to find a shop there that sells them.

I have several vintage Florsheim shell cordovans, including longwing brogues. along with a couple of Alden shells. One or two pairs of the Florsheims have acquired the lovely light olive tint that I think comes with aging on some shell cordovan shoes. Like the Elegant Blogger, I find that tint especially attractive, and his Carmina shoes are lovely. I wonder if the cordovan leather for those shoes was aged extensively.

I also have a pair of loafers, which I think were made with calfskin leather, that has darkened in mottled patches, again with age. Many of my friends see these shoes and think something is wrong with the leather! I tell them it is a patina that comes with age, and I love it. You can't really get this effect by artificially darkening the shoes (as some makers try to do) without the aging process doing it naturally. Sometimes, there are no shortcuts, and there is nothing wrong with aging a pair of shoes. After all, we age wine and cognac and armagnac and whisky, don't we?

 

[David J. Cooper]

Thanks for posting this. The one overwhelming impression I got when we visited the Carmina store on the Rue de L’Opera in Paris was that the shoes were tiny. I suppose sleek would have been a more positive descriptor but to me they looked like shoes for tweens.

In fairness all the shoes I saw in Europe were meant for people with small feet.

 

[challer]

I have great affection for Carmina shoes, particularly the MTO program. I've been to the stores in Barcelona - and there is a flagship in NYC now. Definitely worth a visit

 

[Flanderian]

Thanks for posting this. The one overwhelming impression I got when we visited the Carmina store on the Rue de L'Opera in Paris was that the shoes were tiny. I suppose sleek would have been a more positive descriptor but to me they looked like shoes for tweens.

In fairness all the shoes I saw in Europe were meant for people with small feet.

Quite welcome!

As a generality I've found that many/most European shoes are sleeker than the few typical remaining American shoes, and have trimmer lasts. This can be an asset or detriment depending upon one's feet and preferences. That said,. there's a great deal of difference in volume between makes, and also great variability between lasts within a make. I've got some shoes on Sanders and Sanders 4831 last which, excepting a narrower heel than an Alden last, are very broad and have a lot of volume from the instep forward. But then there aren't really any other shoes with a last like Alden's Barry last. (A round shoe? ) And as you are probably aware, European shoes usually come in only a few widths at most. I fit a U.S. D width and find most English standard widths accommodate me well.

A little less than a year ago I added a tassel loafer, my first from Spain. And whether made in Mallorca like Carmina. or elsewhere, Herring didn't specify. But I was surprised that it had more volume than I feared it might, and an incredibly solid build. Definitely not a lightweight.

I've found a video reviewing a Spanish Adelaide in a wider fitting, and will add it to this thread at some point as it features a shoe in an English wide fitting, roughly equivalent to a U.S. E width.

 

[David J. Cooper]

I was hoping to come home from our European adventure with a pair of shoes but the only thing that fit were a pair of Weston Golfs. I didn’t love them and they were approaching a thousand dollars cdn with exchange.

Great thread Flandarian.

 

[challer]

Weston is very big on MTO, a visit to the NYC store for MTO is an experience worth doing. Who doesn’t need a pair of 180s?

 

[Flanderian]

I was hoping to come home from our European adventure with a pair of shoes but the only thing that fit were a pair of Weston Golfs. I didn't love them and they were approaching a thousand dollars cdn with exchange.

Great thread Flandarian.

Thank you.

It's been ages since I was in Europe, but I wouldn't be surprised if the variety available in the U.S. via the magic of the Internet far exceeds what a casual visitor might encounter.

As mentioned above, I've come upon a video review of a Cheaney made shoe sold by the fine retailer, Herring that is roughly equivalent to a U.S. E width. And it's a very handsome Adelaide.

I've got three pair of Cheaney. (Which I recently learned is correctly pronounced Cheeney rather than Chainey by those who make it.) They're very fine shoes, and the make has evidently gone upmarket in materials and precision since purchased by some Church brothers several years ago.

I think the reviewer confuses a couple of things in his review: first, the letter used to designate the same width can differ from one make to another, and the actual width is also very make and last dependent. Secondly, the slight discoloration he mentions briefly is actually patination that Cheaney has worked hard to achieve.