Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[friendlygoz]

Nettleton Traditional shell today View attachment 1307167 View attachment 1307168

Man you are bringing the heat lately. Those are great!

 

[Centaurus3200]

Hit the bins. Almost bought 2 pairs of vintage johnston and Murphy crown Aristocraft croc or gator split toes... Then I noticed they were splitting along the vamp. Pretty sure it was the right decision to leave them behind?

Still nearly bought them but there's no way they Wouldn't disintegrate if I tried wearing them with any regularity?

 

[mormonopoly]

I’ve been wearing these Nunn Bush wingtips lately. These were custom made around 1960 for an M. Roberts and are a very high quality shoe.

 

[CWOyaji]

The Johnston & Murphy Bellwood shell wingtips arrived just now, with a really nice signed note from the seller on the back story of the shoes. I'll post pics of the full cleanup, though only the uppers need any work since these still have the original soles and heels and they're holding up well. Going to write an email of gratitude to and leave enthusiastic feedback for this gentleman, and let him know they are now in good hands.

And they fit me perfectly. My feelings of regret for those bygone AE Cambridges are now officially and truly a thing of the past.

 

[suitforcourt]

The Johnston & Murphy Bellwood shell wingtips arrived just now, with a really nice signed note from the seller on the back story of the shoes. I'll post pics of the full cleanup, though only the uppers need any work since these still have the original soles and heels and they're holding up well. Going to write an email of gratitude to and leave enthusiastic feedback for this gentleman, and let him know they are now in good hands.
View attachment 1307273
And they fit me perfectly. My feelings of regret for those bygone AE Cambridges are now officially and truly a thing of the past.

A great example of a well made shoe lasting decades.

Nice note from the seller/original owner. I should follow his lead when I start selling off my main pieces.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

How about some vintage exotics?

I’m not sure who the maker is. I suspect these are mid 60’s. Sharkskin shortwings.

I have another pair of Shark but the texture on them in very pronounced. These are more smooth. The skin does feel VERY TOUGH like it would last for decades — I suppose it already has!

 

[smfdoc]

How about some vintage exotics?

I’m not sure who the maker is. I suspect these are mid 60’s. Sharkskin shortwings.

I have another pair of Shark but the texture on them in very pronounced. These are more smooth. The skin does feel VERY TOUGH like it would last for decades — I suppose it already has!

View attachment 1307377 View attachment 1307378

I do not think these can be considered vintage, as they were made around 2004. I guess vintage status needs a few more years. These were obtained as NOS on Ebay. Allen Edmonds Chester in alligator, which I wore today to close out 2019. They alligator selections were MTO in 2004 at $2,400. Amazing that someone spent that kind of money and they they never touched the ground for 15 years.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

I do not think these can be considered vintage, as they were made around 2004. I guess vintage status needs a few more years. These were obtained as NOS on Ebay. Allen Edmonds Chester in alligator, which I wore today to close out 2019. They alligator selections were MTO in 2004 at $2,400. Amazing that someone spent that kind of money and they they never touched the ground for 15 years.

View attachment 1307442

holy smokes! Those are incredible!! 2004 is semi vintage. But, either way, I’m glad you posted them! Great looking shoes!

 

[slimjohnil6]

Nice find at a Value Village yesterday.... Dack's prairie oxhide. But I can't find much on the model no. 05880. Anyone seen these before?

 

[CWOyaji]

Late 80's vintage Johnston & Murphy Crown Aristocraft Bellwood shell shortwings.

Spoiler: Listing photo & as received, with a very thoughtful note

 

[suitforcourt]

Whenever my 3 year old son sees me pull out my phone and aim at my feet, he will ask: Dada, you take pictures of your shoes?

The kids wanted to be part of the fun today.

Red Wing 875 mocs on a snowy New Year's eve. Are these jeans dark enough to make me cool and hip? Someone please say yes.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Slightly off topic (genetics and heredity) -- so ignore if this is not your thing. It is shoe related.

The reason I was thinking about this was my grandmother would have been 100 years old on December 29. I have been thinking about her a lot. I apparently inherited some traits from my Grandmother that skipped a generation.

My father is 6'3" but has relatively small feet for his size. He wears a 9.5 Wide. My Mother is 5'4" and wears an 8 Wide. My brother took after them because he is 5'11" and wears a 10.5 wide.

Now, my grandmother had long VERY narrow feet. If they made 9.5 in a Slim (4A) that was probably her size. She usually had to buy a 9 or a 10 narrow if she could and then use inserts to make them fit.

I'm 6'3" and wear 11-11.5 Narrow (sometimes very narrow). So, either I inherited long narrow feet from my Grandmother or maybe the mail man was a tall skinny fellow who liked old wingtips and had long narrow feet.

I knew a man at church years ago that must have had the most difficult time finding shoes. He wore a size 16 AA. He used to say the size of his shoes was a 2 1/2 because it took two cows and one pig to make his shoes.

By the way, anyone else realize once they started wearing better (quality) shoes that you had been wearing the wrong size? For YEARS I thought I was an 11.5D until I wore a quality shoe that was 11 Narrow.

 

[actionjbone]

Recently did some more work on the PTBs I got from @thomas199023 - decided to wear them out for lunch today.

I'm pretty happy with how far they've come. I don't think I'll ever get them perfectly smooth, I don't want to overdo it with the wet sanding. But they've come a long way, and they're holding a shine pretty well now.

 

[suitforcourt]

Slightly off topic (genetics and heredity) -- so ignore if this is not your thing. It is shoe related.

The reason I was thinking about this was my grandmother would have been 100 years old on December 29. I have been thinking about her a lot. I apparently inherited some traits from my Grandmother that skipped a generation.

My father is 6'3" but has relatively small feet for his size. He wears a 9.5 Wide. My Mother is 5'4" and wears an 8 Wide. My brother took after them because he is 5'11" and wears a 10.5 wide.

Now, my grandmother had long VERY narrow feet. If they made 9.5 in a Slim (4A) that was probably her size. She usually had to buy a 9 or a 10 narrow if she could and then use inserts to make them fit.

I'm 6'3" and wear 11-11.5 Narrow (sometimes very narrow). So, either I inherited long narrow feet from my Grandmother or maybe the mail man was a tall skinny fellow who liked old wingtips and had long narrow feet.

I knew a man at church years ago that must have had the most difficult time finding shoes. He wore a size 16 AA. He used to say the size of his shoes was a 2 1/2 because it took two cows and one pig to make his shoes.

By the way, anyone else realize once they started wearing better (quality) shoes that you had been wearing the wrong size? For YEARS I thought I was an 11.5D until I wore a quality shoe that was 11 Narrow.

I started wearing orthotics since 5. I always had to size up to accommodate them. For the longest time, didn't know about different widths. Finally learned about it when I bought my first Dacks and AE. Before 2008, always wore 10-10.5.

Then measured for 8.5eee. I can fit into some 9E, 9.5D, and 9.5E.

 

[woofmang]

Whenever my 3 year old son sees me pull out my phone and aim at my feet, he will ask: Dada, you take pictures of your shoes?

The kids wanted to be part of the fun today.

Red Wing 875 mocs on a snowy New Year's eve. Are these jeans dark enough to make me cool and hip? Someone please say yes. View attachment 1307601 View attachment 1307602 View attachment 1307603

Those jeans are so hip! ?