The BEST shoe color !

[Marc Chevalier]

.
It ain't black.


-------------It ain't brown.


---------------------------It's OXBLOOD.


You don't see the oxblood color too much these days, unless you swear by "preppy" penny loafers and tassel loafers. Pity, because oxblood goes with EVERYTHING. Blue suit? Oxblood matches it perfectly. Brown? Say hello to oxblood. Grey? Ditto. Black? Definitely. Green? Yes indeed. Taupe, khaki, tan or beige? Yup.

Oxblood is the perfect color for dressy shoes. Not only does it match with all other colors, but it looks, well, aristocratic. Elegant with a capital "E".

Seeing is believing. Below is a pair of never-worn oxblood dress shoes from the later 1930s. What do you think?

-----

 

[Mr. Rover]

Those shoes are great. The decorative stitching is cool, but I prefer to keep conservative.
Y'know what? I don't even have a pair of black dress shoes that I wear regularly- too stuffy IMHO for daily wear. I'm not going to work, afterall! It's school where everyone else is wearing sneakers. So what do I wear? A pair of oxblood Johnston Murphy captoes. I'm not sure if they're real cordovan, but they are plenty soft.
Before we went to Disneyland, I had trouble debating how to match it with my clothes. I wore it with a dark blue suit, but I didn't know if I should've worn a brown hat instead of a gray hat. I opted for a gray hat and it still looked alright to my eye.

EDIT: I just checked the web-site and they appear to be burgundy calf.

 

[Zach R.]

I picked up a new pair of "preppy" Allen Edmonds oxblood loafers recently (for really cheap), and I'm coming around to this type of thinking.

I used to think that black or brown was always the way to go, but after a while it just gets, well, bland. If I can find a pair of oxfords (in oxblood) in my size(somewhere between a 9.5 and 10 EEE), I'd jump right on them.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Beautiful!

In my shoe dog days at Florsheim, we simply called this color, "Cordovan".
Our sales/fashion mantra was,... "This color goes with everything!" and indeed it does. Nice pair!

 

[Mr. Rover]

Isn't real cordovan specifically the horsehide?

 

[Benny Holiday]

I'm wearing my oxblood wingtips right now

My Dad had a sharp pair of loafers from the 50's in oxblood. He often talked about how much he loved looking the bomb wearing those shoes, and when I became interested in 30's and 40's style everything, I remembered the colour and how smart it looked.

Alas, fine oxblood shoes remained beyond my budget until one day I walked past a fine European-style clothier named P & S Michael. On display at the front of the store were a pair of $260 oxblood Pitti shoes on sale for half price. I was in the shop asking if they were available in my size faster than you could say "shoehorn".

I've now had these fine shoes for 8 or so years, and I love them.

 

[Sefton]

Marc,
It doesn't look like anyone here is going to disagree! Do you own those unworn 30s shoes? They're lovely.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Yes.

Isn't real cordovan specifically the horsehide?

It is. What is commonly called "front quarter" I believe. The smoothest part of the hide. Traditionally it had this color.

 

[MudInYerEye]

It is. What is commonly called "front quarter" I believe. The smoothest part of the hide. Traditionally it had this color.

I was under the impression that shell cordovan comes from the horse's hindquarters, near the ass.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

By George, yer right.

My mistake. Here's the description.

http://www.bensilver.com/style04/styleguide_link4.html

 

[Mr. Rover]

Who would've guessed that a horse's posterior would polish up so nicely?

 

[DanielJones]

M.C.,

Very nice indeed. Mind if I ask where you aquired those shoes?

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'll tell you ... if you promise not to hate me. Here goes:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7773210819&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Hate you? Never!

Applaud you? Absolutely! :eusa_clap Well found!

 

[Salv]

$7.95! - must be the greatest FL bargain ever. Well done Marc, and they are beautiful shoes.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Lovely colour. (Though as a vegetarian, I like to call it 'burgundy' or 'dark burgundy' instead of oxblood. Not that it makes the leather any more vegetarian.)

I nearly bought the perfect pair of burgundy oxfords some weeks ago in a small place in NJ. They had other reddish shoes, and so I saw all the more how great this colour was. The shape was exactly what I was looking for, the price was rather low, but - they didn't have them in my size.

 

[herringbonekid]

beautiful shoes Marc, but how can you find the time* to trawl the non-vintage listings of ebay AND the vintage listings ?


*you're not even supposed to be here remember

 

["Doc" Devereux]

beautiful shoes Marc, but how can you find the time* to trawl the non-vintage listings of ebay AND the vintage listings ?


*you're not even supposed to be here remember

Shhhhh - don't remind him! lol

 

[Mr. 'H']

I wear Barker oxblood oxfords all the time - I'm wearing them now. They call oxfords the full brogue style in the UK.

 

[Wild Root]

beautiful shoes Marc, but how can you find the time* to trawl the non-vintage listings of ebay AND the vintage listings ?


*you're not even supposed to be here remember

Well, The Fedora Lounge is like a bad habit... you just can't kick it no matter what!

=WR=