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Few makers spend so much time on the bottoms as French bespoke shoemaker Atelier Du Tranchet. Above is one of many examples, a tribute to Japan with a decorative drawing and not least an amazingly made heel.
It’s lovely to see how much can be done just by enhancing things a bit, like the shapes of the last on this seriously amazing bespoke sample made by Patrick Frei and Kazuya Kimura. It’s essentially a regular soft square toe, but with curves and angles carved to perfection.
Shoemakers are in general quite artistic and creative people, and it often shows also in other areas than the specific footwear. One such example is the shoe trees, where we can find awesome pieces made by bespoke makers and/or their shoe tree makers. Here’s a look at some of my favourites.
Above is a picture of what many people would call the shoe shelf of shoe shelves. Almost 200 shoes on one single wall, of course found in the shoe heaven that is the shoe department of Isetan Men’s in Tokyo, Japan.
This old bespoke sample above from George Cleverley is a nice example of how them, and some earlier British makers like Nicolaus Tuczek, made their bottoms back in the days. A slim, very asymmetrical waist and a small, short heel with a heavily curved breast (the heel part facing front) and only brass nails in the back.
The title of the TV soap opera is highly suitable for this picture here, where four very different models from Saint Crispin’s are lined up. I myself am a rather boring type that focuses on 50 shades of brown, so to speak, the models on the edges, but can not help but be attracted by shoes like the light grey and olive green above.
In the article on the Amsterdam super trunk, I showed a new bespoke sample from Patrick Frei / Kazuya Kimura, which was made to look like the really old shoes you see on the shelves of older bespoke companies. As with John Lobb Ltd. in London on St. James Street, where the picture above is from.
Last week, the winter edition of the world’s largest shoe fair, Micam, was held in Milan, Italy. Shoegazing was there, here’s a summary of the impressions from the fair as well as some impressions from some of the exhibitors.
Usually when I do these picture specials it’s with a new pair I got it from some famous bespoke shoemaker, but thought it might be fun to show off my latest TLB Mallorca Artista pair a bit closer, and get to share some detail pictures on the rather special features you find on those that are highly unusual on Goodyear welted shoes in the midrange price segment.
Some innovations in the shoe area do not survive very long, no matter how practical they actually are. One such example is heels with rotating rubber top piece, so that when you have worn down the back one could easily turn the wheel and get a new part to wear on. Mainly due to aesthetics this didn’t hit it off, and today the solution is forgotten.
