What say you of the broguing of these shoes?

Barker Black shoes. Skulls had a moment. Unfortunately, a motif quickly becomes tired these days.

At this point, wearing skulls looks like you're late at a party that is nearly over. And Barker Black has made it their logo. Perhaps in five years the recent skull moment will be forgotten and one could wear these again.

http://www.barkerblack.com/collection.html

Is that skull and bones? The leather has a cheap look or it may just be the picture.

A lot to pay for novelty clothing, in my book. And Barker Black has become so well known that it's a little too logo-ized/conspicuous consumption for my tastes as well. Like if Ralph's shoes had a Polo player medallion.

My younger brother has the Brown Calf/Brown Suede Spectator and the leather is definitely thin. The C&J Bench made is a superior shoe. Not very good value, but he loves them and that's what matters.

In a word....

no

Don't do it.

i'm going to go against the grain and defend barker black here. i don't own any pairs yet, but hope to own one pair soon. i have a pair of c&j, a pair of egs for rlpl (with another on the way) and i've seen bb in person. i must say that they appear fairly well constructed to me. some lasts/styles are better than others. the leathers aren't as interesting as the antiquing on eg, but not many are imo (including lobb's museum calf, but i digress)? at full retail, i agree, i would rather buy a pair of eg's on discount. but, on sale, i think they are not necessarily a good value, but a fun shoe nonetheless. i think a lot fo the bb bashers on here haven't seen a pair in person. the skull and bones motif gets plastered around with close up shots, but from eye level down to feet level, it is really hardly noticeable, especially to the avg non-sf person. i appreciate what they are trying to do, even if it is novel.

unfortunately that's probably too true.


But I'd wear em if they were more reasonably priced. I espcially like the black and white specs someone posted in the spectator thread a few weeks back.

How much money do you want to spend on a trendy look? For nonstandard brogueing, I like the Gieves & Hawkes buckshot brogues more: http://www.gievesandhawkes.com/en/gi...agestatus=view

I cannot see them well in this picture. Are these with the buckshot pattern that looks random...like shotgun pellet brogues? Thanks.

I actually kind of like the buckshot broguing. I mean the skull and bones is cool, but it's gotten sort of overexposed and would not be anything more than a novelty shoe in any case.

It's not my thing, but it's also subtle enough that the vast majority of people won't notice. How often could somebody answer the question "Did he have an Arabesque or a thistle pattern on his wing tips?" As for quality, I've never seen them.

I'll second the "going against the grain" ethic here. The broguing is very subtle; you generally have to point out the memento mori for it to be noticed. The last is elegant and the leather -- once broken in -- is actually comfortable and attractive.

yeah, those are the ones i was talking about. they look great!