As I mentioned in my first introductory post, a key element of menswear is the longevity and timelessness. By longevity, I don’t mean that one should wear the same polyester suit, black turtleneck, or rubber-sole shoes every day 24/7:
What I mean is that through wearing (and regularly upkeeping) your clothes, they will gradually develop an aurora and an air of timelessness. Something about you. An item with its own character.
One of the most prominent examples to illustrate this is men’s shoes
As many traditional shoe manufacturers – think the likes of old British or French shoemakers like Church’s, John Lobb etc – often claim that their shoes are meant to be worn over years, if not decades. Construction like goodyear welting allows the sole to be replaced with relatively ease (I will talk more about shoe construction in later post so won’t elaborate much here), while some also suggest adding metal tab to the heel and the toe of the shoes to enhance durability.
In addition, by polishing your shoes over time, the shoes will also develop an unique patina (or shine, in a more layman term) that can only be achieved by waxing and coloring your shoes over time.
The picture below shows the difference in depth and texture of the same pair of shoes before and after polishing. On the left, it is a nice leather shoes that resembles many brand new leather shoes from a decent shop – as you can see, due to the leather dying process, the color of the shoes is uniform and one-dimensional.
After a few polish however, a sheen is developed from the wax applied, and one can see a gradual fading of the color from the side of the shoes to the upper, which adds more dimensions and texture to the shoes. Visually, it is not just a block of brown color, but more intricate and complex.
As a next step, one may even add a bit of black polish to toe cap of the shoes to create a burnish effect, like the beautiful wholecut below:
As you can tell, there are many variations one can add to their items. There are probably no right or wrong, but by the subtle changes you make, it reflects who you are.
Caring and maintaining your clothes and shoes increases their lifetime, and more importantly, it adds a bit of history and character to the look. At the end of the day, one should own his clothes and not owned by it.
To end, can you think of other pieces in menswear that, like shoes, richen over time?
J
2andhalfmen 