A Fine Man Once Said:

"Part of the 10 million I spent on gambling, part of it on booze, and part of it on women. The rest I spent foolishly."

- George Raft





Thursday, March 1, 2012

Vintage Edward Green for Nordstrom: The Malvern

Edward Green for Nordstrom.

Many of you will remember the pair of Edward Green Windsor's that I sent back to the factory for re-crafting. Those shoes were originally made by Edward Green for Nordstrom here in the US, and I  recently came across a similar pair made for the American department store. While this pair isn't holding up quite as well the Windsors, they are nevertheless quite lovely to behold.


The shoes appear to have been partially resoled at some point, but after 25-30 years, the resoles and uppers appear to be holding up well enough. The leather uppers are beginning to show just a  hint of cracking just under the broguing in the image below, and there are a few blemishes around the medallions but the dark leather hue really masks what might be more obvious wear on a lighter pair of shoes.





As you can see from the images, the uppers have a burgundy tone, but I'm not entirely sure if that reddish hue is more from years of polishing rather than the actual leather color. Perhaps a bit of both.





When I cleaned the shoes and applied leather conditioner, I rubbed away quite a bit of the burgundy.  I'm sure the shoes would benefit from a thorough cleaning and conditioning, and it would certainly be interesting to see whether, underneath all of that polish residue, there really is a burgundy shoe.

As an aside, this pair of Edward Green offers a good example of the wider 202 last fitted on the narrower C width. I have often heard it said that that, ideally, when wearing the roomier 202 last, one should size down from the regular US D width to a slightly narrower C width (or, in UK sizing from the standard E down to D). The purpose being to reduce the, for lack of better word, "bulbous" effect of the 202 last. Looking at this pair of shoes, the narrower width certainly on the 202 looks like a direct precursor to the sleeker 82 last.

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