Alligator / Crocodile Shoes

I only wish I owned a pair. I love very odd textured shoes though. I saw a pair of pony hair chukkas the other day and they looked damn fine. Couldnt justify $300 for them though.

Originally Posted by Loggia

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price on request.. So I think it will be a large number hehe.

HAH. I just pm'd you.. lets see if I pass out.




To change the discussion a little, lets talk about Allig / Croc ataches.... Deliciously ostentatious, or.....?

Originally Posted by JayJay

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mr. monty would know for sure, but I believe I saw them or a pair like them in Saks (Chicago) and that they are Mezlan. I could be mistaken though.

You are correct. Saks had a nice sale back in August.
Mezlan can be hit or miss. They do better with exotics than they do with calf shoes.
This pair below is about 12 or 13 years old and not to "pimpy"? New strings are onthe way

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^^^

Very nice!!

Originally Posted by rs232

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I think a symmetrical toe goes a long way with tiled leathers. Some of those lasts are curvy and look a bit odd with the straight lines of the scales.

Alas, not mine...
These are among the most beautiful and electrifying pair of shoes I have ever seen. A Masterpiece; each of them. The last they were constructed on even reminisces the animal. Just superb! How do you maintain the leather? What product(s) do you use & how often please.?

Originally Posted by mr monty

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Beautiful boots. The toe and overall shape gives respect to the animal they came from.

Originally Posted by dshin

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+1. I think they are gaudy and ugly and I don't see the point of spending the money that people spend on exotic skin shoes. Most of them (and yes even the ones posted on this thread) all look like wanna be pimp shoes.

Do you think that a pimp commissioned the first pair of exotic shoes?

Originally Posted by DWFII

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Knowing a little bit about the history of shoes, I am inclined to think your bias is something of a very recent thing, historically speaking, and perhaps informed by images and associations that might be suspect, at best.

And perhaps...hopefully...a cultural and temporal anomaly.

But that's just my opinion. And you have yours...and you're welcome to it, as far as I'm concerned.

Well stated!

Originally Posted by henluc

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Do you think that a pimp commissioned the first pair of exotic shoes?

Probably not, but apparently whoever designs 90% of the exotic shoes made today have pimps in mind for their market.

I stick to american alligator accessories - I have wallets and belts. I doubt I'll ever own exotic shoes, although I just saw some boots with ostrich leg highlights that I really liked, and I'd consider the black chukkas listed above.

Originally Posted by henluc

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Well stated!

Au contraire , my friends. Exotic leathers were used by the gentry to mark their social and economical difference with the Plebe.

Crocodile has always been very expensive and the cheap examples you can find are not using the same skins than the bespoke models on display..

Look at the fashion pictures from the thirties and the exotic skins are present especially matched with flannel.

Originally Posted by meister

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Edwin Clapps - the venerable US shoemaker (RIP

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Now on B&S

I think I'm with some of the other UK posters on here, I don't like them at all and would not wear any of them. One of my work colleagues wears shiny black snakeskin shoes to work that apparently cost him a lot. In my opinion he looks like a bit of twat in them though.

not in my daily rotation:

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it's nile perch executed by Alexandru Maftei, Vienna

Originally Posted by rs232

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this is a nice showcase and they look fabulous.

but it's more fabulous in bruno's sense. imo, the pointy toe takes away the natural look a shoe should have.

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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Prior to my SF days I made a huge mistake. A friend of mine ( a whale like Larry Flynt ) was given a pair of hand made sea turtle boots made for Larry Flynt. My friend didn't care for the boots and he gave them to me. I am an 11D and the boots were an 11 1/2D ( so a wee bit too big ). I gave them back to my friend and don't know what I was thinking! Had it been during SF days, the boots could have been 12 & 1/2s and I would have kept them.

this reminds me of a visit to a bespoke shoemaker recently:

a forumite asked me for the favour to pay this workshop a visit while in vienna, for the reason he needs assistance with the research for a portrait of some shoemakers in one of the capitals of shoemaking.

i knew the shop since years but i never walked in, so off i went to mr. karl weiner, of whom i have read a short introduction in the german forum newsaboutshoes.de.

first of all, his shoes are in a class of its own and his small shop has a lot of charme. after our nice conversation about shoes and declining leather quality, i found out, that his business model includes handmade shoes for "walk ins". in other words, he stocks some basic models in various sizes and colours. having some sf shoe nuts in mind i.e. vox, luk-cha, phat guido, foo etc., who have smaller feet, i asked politely about size 7 or 7.5

mr. weiner, who was looking for something in a drawer on the bottom of the counter, looked up and said: what do you mean 7 or 7.5? the difference is 0.012 of an inch. so why would somebody care? i nodded silently, whith the thought flashing through my head, ...but these guys on styleforum think otherwise...

Originally Posted by fritzl

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mr. weiner, who was looking for something in a drawer on the bottom of the counter, looked up and said: what do you mean 7 or 7.5? the difference is 0.012 of an inch. so why would somebody care? i nodded silently, whith the thought flashing through my head, ...but these guys on styleforum think otherwise...

You are right.. SF in a nutshell...