Gaziano & Girling Appreciation & Shoe Appreciation Thread (including reviews, purchases, pictures)

[Tallcane]

Received notice that my black Cambridge's landed at Skoak. First black shoe I have purchased in a long long time.

 

[TtownMD]

Very nice & congrats I only have 2 pair black shoes. Sinatra & black button boot with black peccary shaft.

 

[coldinboston]



Very nice & congrats I only have 2 pair black shoes. Sinatra & black button boot with black peccary shaft.

I think it's the smooth calf that's done it - for me, textured-leather belongs firmly on boots. (Don't ask me where pigskin and hatch-grain sit in the simplistic, neat style categorisation in my head!)

Black pig skin wells incoming from skoak

 

[dddrees]



Very nice. The Thorpe is the best style for kudu, IMHO.

Personally I thought these looked pretty good as well.

 

[dddrees]



Received notice that my black Cambridge's landed at Skoak. First black shoe I have purchased in a long long time.

Very nice, Congrats!!

 

[grc1]



Personally I thought these looked pretty good as well

To each his own - to me they look good in pictures, but I wouldn't wear them myself. I'm guessing most folk would feel the same way about my own collection!

 

[smoothie1]



To each his own - to me they look good in pictures, but I wouldn't wear them myself. I'm guessing most folk would feel the same way about my own collection!

I actually agree with you. One of the first spectator styled shoes I saw from G&G was a reddish Mountain Ram and burgundy leather quarter brogue. They looked cool, but way too fast and brash for my taste.

This shoe stuff is largely about fit and whether you will actually wear the goods and get some value/enjoyment from them. I have no doubt @dddrees will rock those kicks and enjoy them, and that's the bottom line.

Personally, I still waver about whether I like Kudu and Mountain Ram or not. They are such a bold texture that I'm not sure I can rightly call them elegant and suitable for me. Then again, I like a shiny alligator finish, which is by no means subtle.

 

[dddrees]

To each his own - to me they look good in pictures, but I wouldn't wear them myself. I'm guessing most folk would feel the same way about my own collection!

Agree completely.

 

[mw313]

Store overstock £600, other stuff starting at £250 depending on quality. When I got there this morning around 0730 there were already a dozen early birds in ahead of me - got into Justin's new digs around 08:20 to find a fair amount of G&G stock, but not massive amounts in my size 9.5E. There was definitely more in previous sales in my size, but they seemed to have a fair amount to choose from across the size range.

In 9.5E (and 9F thru 10E in adjacent boxes) I looked past cedar Woburns, a fox suede Antibes, a chestnut Carlyle, a grain Corniche, a bespoke ... something-or-other in vintage rioja calf, Monacos in vintage cherry (already have them), a GC06 Harrow, even a deco Mitchell in midnight blue (already have them - though come to think of it I could have kopped and had it patina'd. Damn. Oh well).

It came down to a deco Grant that had been dyed from the stock vintage oak to a near black, then used; and the Hoves.

With deco MTOs I do prefer to have the instep insert to help minimise the V-gap, and the Grant already has a V-gap built in as a design aesthetic, so the Grant was out for me, leaving the Hoves.

I was really surprised - looking at pictures and on the shelf instore they'd always struck me as a bit too ... I don't know, dainty for the styling - I thought the Isham looked better with the 5th eyelet, so never bothered to try since the Isham isn't a stock model. But now having tried the Hoves. I know better.

I love my new Ho's - err, Hoves.

Great find!

How were they with large sizes? Do you know if they had any for us extra big guys at 12 UK and up?

 

[atia2]



How were they with large sizes? Do you know if they had any for us extra big guys at 12 UK and up?

G&G had 5 pairs in size 12, nothing larger. There was a rioja Hove, a couple of brown adelaides, some kind of wholecut with raised seams, and I think a brown loafer with twisted strap. The Hoves were beautiful but a little too large in the vamp for me.

J Fitzpatrick had a lovely dark brown boot in 12.5, sadly too large for me. Not much else in the big sizes.

The Hoves and the JF boot were the top picks. Also some great shoes on display in the queue!

 

[dddrees]

Anybody have any ideas as to which color Saphir polish works best on Vintage Cedar?

 

[laufer]



Anybody have any ideas as to which color Saphir polish works best on Vintage Cedar?

I am going to use neutral. I looked for matching colors but i could not find one.

 

[dddrees]



I am going to use neutral. I looked for matching colors but i could not find one.

Thanks and I've been using neutral, but long term I would like to be able to use something with color if I can find a suitable match.

 

[RogerP]

^^^ That's what I'd do.

 

[dddrees]



^^^ That's what I'd do.

Well it sounds like I'm not the only one after all.