Brown leather gets such a nice patina to it, doesn’t it? A quality shoe just gets better with age. A cheap shoe looks like crap. And there are so many barely-worn vintage high quality shoes floating around for a tiny fraction of what the would cost to buy new.
John McHale didn’t just make enormous brown captoes, they also made something a bit sleeker as this pair shows. These are a bit later- note: McHale vs. John McHale, and probably date from the late ’50s/early ’60s. The Mad Men era.
Another pair of John McHale captoes, this time with Cats Paw Heels instead of leather suicide heels.
And a family portrait of two pairs together.
Brown leather and white suede, what a great combination. These wingtips have style in spades.
This ’50s Lee homburg originally belonged to someone who worked at the Bush Funeral Home in New York. Dark hat. Dark business.
You don’t see a lot of brown derbies these days. Lots of black ones survived, but the slightly more casual, slightly less common brown ones didn’t make it nearly as well. This is a modern one. Well- I say modern- but I consider any hat made from the mid ’70s on to be pretty modern. It’s soft like a homburg and has a homburg curl to the brim, not a derby curl. But the blocking is all bowler- too low to take a crease, so I guess that’s what it is.
This is just another ’80s asian made mall motorcycle jacket, but I think it’s nicely detailed and passable. I got it mainly for the big D-pocket, and for the overall simplicity of the design. I like earlier motorcycle jackets- nicely detailed, but still clean. Newer ones, with the huge zippers, the epaulettes, the longer length, the belts, the silver hardware- they’re just a bit to fetish for my tastes. So no- this isn’t my ideal black leather jacket, but it’s a step in the right direction.
They made a version of this in leather as well. This one’s heavy canvas, with a thick furry lining. More buttons and fasteners and buckles than you can shake a stick at.
The tags are long gone, so no definite identification. But what a tweed! The boldest!
This is dated 1900. It was out of style by the time the Titanic sank. 112 years old and still kicking.
It’s not in the best condition, but is one of the older pieces I’ve had. All the pieces are marked with tailor tags, but all are on the undersides of linings or insides of pockets- hidden places. I love the cut of the hem of the trousers, a sweeping S shape to accommodate the wearer’s shoes, while maintaining a no-break silhouette.
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