The main representatives of the so-called #menswear sphere does in relatively many cases wear a lot of tailored suits, jackets and trousers – but very rarely bespoke shoes. A reflection on why it’s like this in today’s post.
Many of those who read this blog also has a more general interest in classic style, and if you read blogs, have Instagram and so on you will whether you like it or not follow and be a part of the so called #menswear sphere. Exactly how one chooses to define the epithet may vary, but most agree that there is some sort of core of a number of people around the world – trade representatives, store owners, buyers, journalists, bloggers, etc. – that you can call the main representatives for this branch of men’s fashion/men’s style. They meet at the Pitti Uomo fair, show pictures of each other on social media, and other people interested in this style are both inspired by them and gush over them.
#menswear-people. Picture: Parisian Gentleman
The other week when I scrolled through my Instagram feed, and there were a dozen people in this group of people who all had posted pictures from their latest fittings with different tailors, it struck me how extremely much rarer it is that I see the same images from shoe fittings. Here it is for many natural to buy a lot of bespoke and Made To Measure garments from many great companies. They often have a large part of their wardrobes made up of them, and they regularly order new garments often from several different manufacturers at the same time. Absolutely amazing, of course, that many both the interest and opportunity to do this.
On the shoe side it’s as mentioned a different story. There are some exceptions of “#menswear representatives” who owns bespoke shoes, and a few more who have semi bespoke/MTM variants. But if you compare it with the clothing side it’s very few. It’s absolutely so that these people are happy to spend money on shoes, and many are specifically talking about their great interest in shoes, but for some reason they don’t go further than premium RTW manufacturers like Edward Green and Gaziano & Girling, or maybe a modified last at Saint Crispin’s. While they at the same time spend severalt that amount on tailored clothing. Why is this?
A common sight on blogs and in social media…
…a not so common sight on blogs and in social media. Picture: Cover Magazine (Översta bilden: Gieves & Hawkes)
Don’t misinterpret me, I’m not saying that there would be something wrong with this, I just wonder why this is a fact. As I see it, the difference is so clear, that it’s more than just happens to be so. For the pricing is roughly the same if you compare between bespoke/MTM suits and jackets with the corresponding shoe offerings, the same monetary conditions are about the same, in other words. And it’s not just about this #menswear clique but it goes wider than that, it’s just that it’s extra defined here I believe.
In a way, it should be the other way around. Like I recently wrote in an article on the Swedish men’s style site Manolo: “When it comes to shoes in a way fit is even more important than when it comes to clothing, since it’s about comfort and health in a different way than with clothes. Somewhat simplified: if a jacket doesn’t fit perfectly in the neck, it’s nothing you get hurt by more than the fact that the aesthetic is not perfect, but if a shoe pinches somewhere you can have to endure pain and in the long run even get serious foot issues.”
The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that it’s about vanity, that appearance is in focus, to put it a bit better. With a tailor made or MTM garment you can see that the fit is good, it gives a boost to the appearance compared to RTW clothes, this in a different way than a pair of bespoke shoes differ from a RTW shoe in appearance. In an appearance-fixated society, it is in many ways logical that we choose the most visible thing first. We both see it very clearly ourselves, and know that others see it clearly. Perhaps the interest of bespoke shoes will be on the rise in the future, we’ll see.
Interesting reflection, mr. Ingevaldsson.
This question (why so much RTW/MTM) partially crosses with a similar one by the Snob himself, Justin Fitzpatrick: where all the many bizarre shoes on Facebook/Instagram/forums are in the real world.
I think the problem is bifurcated. From what I’ve seen in my line of work, the first problem in bespoke making is the client himself.
From a descriptive point of view, a suit, a blazer or a coat are quite easy to classify: even a “style illiterate” can define his personal preferences without tongue-twisting terminology. Indeed, the majority of adjustment seen can be reduced in two categories: accessorizing (buttons, lapels, asola lucida…) or dimensioning (lapel size, sleeve lenght et similia).
When you’re ordering a bespoke shoe, the sheer volume of possible choices can blow your brain apart. Even if every shoe model can be collocated in one of three groups (closed lacing, open lacing, loafer), bespoke shoemaking is a world where every millimeter and every word be-spoken (hah) counts: since the shoemaker possibility are limited only by the client physiology, I WILL do everything YOU say you want.
Since the learning curve in shoe style is a bit steeper than the one for clothing, and since almost every client request is linked to visual aspects (a lot of clients ask for patina, or strange colours, or grained leathers. Only a minority asks for a specific leather quality), a high quality MTM can satisfy almost everyone. Years ago Tony Gaziano said that, after they expanded the RTW/MTM colour and last choices, true bespoke has reduced to about a hundred pairs a year…