Co-respondent or spectator shoes

[storeynicholas]

What are members' preferences for shoe style, materials and colour combinations in co-respondent or spectator shoes?
NJS

[marcelo]

It is sometime now I have been considering the idea of adding a spectator to my wardrobe. I had initially thought about white & brown, till “someone” in this forum stated, as far as I can recollect his words, that a spectator should be black and white, more or less like the masterpiece depicted at: http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... =spectator

A question I have, in addition, of course, to the question posed by the very author of this thread, is how Loungers manage to polish spectators without making a mess. I suppose the only workable approach would be to use wax sans color all over it so as to avoid this problem.

[DonB]

What are members' preferences for shoe style, materials and colour combinations in co-respondent or spectator shoes?
NJS

I pulled the trigger on these when G&G were auctioning them through Ebay. Pleased as punch with them ever since... I have sadly had (very) limited opportunity to wear them, as our summer all but ended in the last week of August.

Black and white spectators strike me as being more jazzy than stylish, but that might be due to my lack of historical knowledge on the subject.

Regards,
Don

[storeynicholas]

Since the English name for these shoes is co-respondent's shoes (ie a co-respondent is the name of the party cited in a divorce petition), maybe the rules for colour and materials and style of shoe are less rigid than when they are called spectator shoes! I know that Tricker's made a pair for a well-known jazz musician in black patent leather and red calf. If I were going to incorporate red I think that I should have plain toe cap oxfords (with a single line of tooling) - the toecap in red calf and the main body in white nubuck with the soles and heels in brown. Any views on this to liven up a tropical sleepy hollow? Post box red and white would certainly liven up a traditional blue reefer jacket or blazer and white flannels and oxblood leather with off-white buckskin might go nicely with a tobacco brown blazer and unbleached white ducks.
NJS

[marcelo]

Since the English name for these shoes is co-respondent's shoes (ie a co-respondent is the name of the party cited in a divorce petition), maybe the rules for colour and materials and style of shoe are less rigid than when they are called spectator shoes! I know that Tricker's made a pair for a well-known jazz musician in black patent leather and red calf. If I were going to incorporate red I think that I should have plain toe cap oxfords (with a single line of tooling) - the toecap in red calf and the main body in white nubuck with the soles and heels in brown. Any views on this to liven up a tropical sleepy hollow? Post box red and white would certainly liven up a traditional blue reefer jacket or blazer and white flannels and oxblood leather with off-white buckskin might go nicely with a tobacco brown blazer and unbleached white ducks.
NJS

This is an interesting reflection on the difference – if any – between “spectator” and “co-repondent”, for I had always thought that these words meant exactly the same thing. Another point which might be adduced is the fact that the preference for the black & white variation amongst jazz musicians was supposed to evoke the harmony amongst black and white people while playing, listening, and dancing to this kind of music in the twenties.

[storeynicholas]

Since the English name for these shoes is co-respondent's shoes (ie a co-respondent is the name of the party cited in a divorce petition), maybe the rules for colour and materials and style of shoe are less rigid than when they are called spectator shoes! I know that Tricker's made a pair for a well-known jazz musician in black patent leather and red calf. If I were going to incorporate red I think that I should have plain toe cap oxfords (with a single line of tooling) - the toecap in red calf and the main body in white nubuck with the soles and heels in brown. Any views on this to liven up a tropical sleepy hollow? Post box red and white would certainly liven up a traditional blue reefer jacket or blazer and white flannels and oxblood leather with off-white buckskin might go nicely with a tobacco brown blazer and unbleached white ducks.
NJS

This is an interesting reflection on the difference – if any – between “spectator” and “co-repondent”, for I had always thought that these words meant exactly the same thing. Another point which might be adduced is the fact that the preference for the black & white variation amongst jazz musicians was supposed to evoke the harmony amongst black and white people while playing, listening, and dancing to this kind of music in the twenties.

This is, probably a use of the colour and structure to denote comity between people in dress (and a good thing too). Co-respondent's shoes predate the jazz age as this following Spy cartoon of the Hon. George Lambton (apparently off to some 'informal' races) in brown and white co-respondent's, demonstrates - as the artist died in 1922. I don't have the excat date of the cartoon to hand but my notes say that it was an Edwardian cartoon) Moreover, Valentino and Clive Brook also favoured such colours in these shoes in the 1920s. I cannot commend too much a book called In Vanity Fair , by Roy Matthews and Peter Mellini (Scolar Press, 1982) for faithful images of the trend-setters of yesteryear.

[img][img]http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg55 ... eredwa.jpg[/img]
NJS[/img]

[Manself]

Do you mean that you can't recommend In Vanity Fair enough, or that your enthusiasm is qualified?

[storeynicholas]

Do you mean that you can't recommend In Vanity Fair enough, or that your enthusiasm is qualified?

Good point. I mean that I commend it and should have simply said so!
NJS