The Ultimate Collection of Shoe Porn - Page 9

My sentiments, exactly.

Lionel, this pair looks stunning! Did you use your preferred Burgol wax? How exactly did you apply the bleach and how did you control its effect?

I got my pair of dark oak Clevelands from a French store's website, La Botte Chantilly. Expect to pay about 500 euros, shipping included.

Here's the link:

http://www.la-botte.com/4DCGI/voir_u...0Jones/Homme/1

Thanks Aportnoy!

Couple more questions if you don't mind. As of late, I think my foot has gone from a 11 to 11.5 in some makes, so I hesitate to buy any expensive dress shoe online. Do you know any dept. stores in CA that may carry C&Js so I can try on the brand to get an idea of whether I fit into 11s or 11.5 generally (even if they don't carry the Cleveland - this assumes that all C&J models fit the same).

Or,

I will be heading out to Paris for a few days in Aug. Would you suggest I just check out the C&J there before purchasing?

Barney's in Beverly Hills is carrying the C&J Stanley blucher in dark brown suede right now. I believe that it's on the 337 last.

I'm new to the world of fancy shoes. Excuse my naivete.

Is this "last" thing the form the shoe is made on?

Yes, see you're catching on to the lingo quickly. The 337 last can be found anywhere that sells C&J handgrade shoes. The 350 is much more difficult, if not impossible, to find in the US. I'm a US 8.5D and I take a UK7.5E on the 337 and an UK8E on the 350.

Hi Sysdoc,

Thank you for the kind words.

This is my method concerning this pair:

1. I stripped the old wax/cream off using aceton. You have to rub hard so that leather gets lighter. Especially with Dark Oak leather.

2. Bleach. I didn't use a lot of it; the key word here is water:
- I dilute the bleach with water (1/3 water and 2/3 bleach) and
- very important, I washed the shoes with water two or three times. If you don't do that, the bleach will leave white spots on the shoes and you can say good-bye to them.
I only applied bleach to the toe area as I didn't want a pair of Berluti.

3. I let the shoes dry a certain time (one full day at least).

4. Bleach is very aggressive to the leather, you have make it feel better. I used the Saphir Médaille d'Or Rénovateur à l'huile de vison , a minkoil renovator, so that the shoes get a smooth finish again.

5. Then I have coated the shoes with cream. I used something dark, as I didn't want the shoes to be too bright. Here I used Saphir Crème Surfine in the "Rouge Hermès" colour. I let the shoe cream set for a few hours - I let it sit overnight.

6. Finally the wax. First I applied blue Saphir Pâte de Luxe to make the shoes less red and then I made them shine using my Burgol wax, which stinks but allows great shines.

I am sorry for the poor quality of the language. I hope you can understand it.

Lionel

i hate grandpa shoes

This should be a sticky for every newbie who asks: "what do you think of brown shoes?"

If they don't get it after viewing this post, then J cuts off their access.

Grenson Masterpiece Butterfly Loafer freshly polished with Saphir dark brown

It appears I'm set on picking up a pair of C&Js either on the 350 or 348 lasts. Besides the C&J store in Paris, can anyone tell me what other options I have in Paris for a large (relatively speaking) selection of C&Js? I plan to head out there some time in the summer. I'll also be in Eastern Europe (Prague, Budapest) and Japan. If anyone has advice on those areas at all, that would be great too. Cheers.

Budapest...

aportnoy,

what do you mean by that??

Home of Vass shoes. Some, including me, would label these among the most glorious shoes on the planet. Not only that, they are avilable at the Vass shop for about 1/2 of what they cost here.

Whet your appetite here:

http://www.vass-shoes.com/shoes.htm