Shells...Horween's and Mine

I love suede shoes. I wear them in every mode-season-circumstance and have used two feeble planks for my defense of year round dress and casual suede shodding. Plank one is that good ole houseguest of the world, dethroned idler The Duke of Windsor and the other is Tommy Killian from Bonfire of the Vanities. Told you that the planks were flimsy. Shut up.

I dislike for the most part, black shoes of any type. My exceptions are two…a pair of Belgians that have brown piping and the little sissy bow in brown…the other is a pair of black suede Gucci bit loafers with lug soles and silver snaffle. Oops…there’s a third…Purple Label boiled wool formal slippers. Otherwise, black ain’t beautiful south of my ankles. So all of my black shoes have some appendage, adjustment or tweak that makes them not purely black…ersatz black maybe.

But my real weakness manifests in Shell Cordovan. Unless you’ve scratched the shell with your fingernail and then rubbed  the patina in compensation-watching the scratch kind of morph and heal itself…unless you own a pair…you won’t get the intrigue. It’s in the patina-there’s no other way for me to characterize where the allure manifests.

The Alden Full Strap Cordovan in Color #8. Owning that one pair-that representative pair should be enough for any reasonable man. God knows I’m not reasonable. I would have been fine if the shell options had remained limited. 

Color #8 in Full Strap and Tassel-that's sounds reasonable.

But no, Horween-the sole provider of cordovan shells to the world has seen its way to provide more options. With an MSRP of at least double most cowhide contrivances, this can be an expensive addiction.

Here’s why…shell cordovan comes from one place-the rump of a horse. As a result, one horse provides usually two pairs of shoes at best. Couple that with the tanning-dying-curing process and you’ve got yourself some expensive material for shoes. If you're interested, take the time to watch this Horween clip…

These John Deere green babies are courtesy of a Horween-Yuketen conspiracy and delivered to my attention by a damn cannonball. I had to sell some collectibles to get the dough for the down payment so that they'd agree to make me a pair. 

And then Horween does it again. A lighter version of their Whiskey hue...something they call "Natural". Just a shade lighter...enough so to get me thinking about them. I wonder if I can buy Shell Cordovan futures...maybe a Derivative of some sort or barring those options...a Cordo Default Swap. Until I figure out my Natural options, I'll just wear the Whiskies...as evidenced in the many photos below.

My Whiskey A Go-Go's are courtesy of Ralph and his pals across the pond...Crockett and Jones. Slicker than snot on a doorknob.

The Naturals...in a minimalist design. Nice. I'm thinking two toned Cordovan in some combination. This Natural minimalist may not be fuzzy enough for me.

But let's not stop just yet. What about shell cordovan watch straps and wallets?

I'll be pouncing on the NATO strap. Stay tuned you budding students of cordo-patinalia.

Again folks, it's about the patina...the depth of color that only shell cordovan will manifest. Everything else attenuates in comparison.

Speaking of an attenuated shell, I realized yesterday evening in the grocery store that my life sans LFG sometimes approximates one. When I'm with her I'm a man in full...an Alden Full Strap #8. When I'm travelling and speaking to clients the distraction and ego stroke deludes me into Full Strap #8 thinking. Home alone and I become that cowhide Bass Weejun in the picture above...not too bad...made in America...a good old standard but nothing compared to the Alden #8. I mean look at the contents of this shopping basket...I ended up buying a few more things just so I didn't manifest "divorced and alone man with nice shoes" to any greater degree. Don't pity me for a moment...I'm blessed beyond measure-even though I embarrased myself in the grocery store.

Onward. Naturally. With a T.V. Dinner...

ADG

PS...Just finished watching The 39 Steps on WETA. I thought, at least for a while, that Public Television might be worthy again.

PSS...Horween makes all the footballs for the NFL. Watch this...