The following is a slightly edited version of an exchange of posts I had with T4phage on the Continental Europe forum. Michael suggested I post it here as some may find it interesting. I havn't copied T4phages questions, as they are his to post or not, however, he basically asked who I chose for my shoes and some details on the styling.
I hope it isn't too long.
Rob
I went with John Cornforth in Harrogate (UK), as it is not too far from where my parents live, and of course he is not too expensive. Unfortunately EG don't come to Germany, otherwise I would almost certainly have gone with Tony.
I haven't had a fitting yet as he has a 12 month waiting list at the moment, but the first try on should be ready for the summer.
My first order is a simple black captoe oxford. Fairly unadventurous, but there is a reason. I want to use this first pair to get the fit right and to see how the toe shape works. As everyday “office shoes” they will get much more intensive wear than a more exotic choice (and I will be less upset if they don’t come out quite as I envisage), so I will be able to assess the fit and wear characteristics quicker and better.
He has me pencilled in for a second pair in the Autumn. I plan to go for a pair of light/mid tan bal-boots, maybe with button or a side fastening and possibly contrasting uppers. So many difficult decisions to make
All the best
Cornforths site is here:-
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/tumblehome
Warning, the photos are not very good: the shoes are much better "live".
I think his waiting list has something to do with the fact that in the north of England there are very few bespoke shoemakers, and the London based ones don't tend to look further north than Wolverhampton, and only then when they have to buy leather
. I don't tend to visit London very often myself. My family is in the north of England and my wife is French, so a lot of Holiday time is taken up visiting relatives and the remainder we tend to go places we havn't visited so often in the past. The examples John had in his workshop were very nice, so I do have high expectations of his workmanship, he is also a very nice chap to deal with.
I have ordered a slightly square toe as I think it should be the easiest to get looking good on my feet, and still be a versatile enough last to use for several styles of shoe. I do like chisel toes, but I find them rather particular, if you understand what I mean, not quite so versatile (and I suspect more difficult to get looking really good). Also my feet are very wide at the ball, narrow at the heel and have quite long toes and I can't help thinking that a chisel toe would tend to look a bit like a sawn of pyramid on me, not really the elegant impression I wanted. Anyway, I am sure that I will want to make small adjustments to the toe to perfect it for the second pair.
Speaking of the second pair, yes, I did want to go for something a bit unusual for this. I always liked ankle boots and have tended to wear chukka boots a lot over the last 10/15 years. I find button boots very elegant, but also quite like the idea of the side fastening on the Bertl boots in the Vass book, although I find those a bit "agricutural" so I'm trying to work out a way of getting it to look a bit more elegant. We'll see what I come up with. The button boots Tony G. posted were very nice, but I would be a bit worried about keeping white felt clean (particularly while polishing black leather), but I could imagine mixture of brown, like on the EG Falkirk, could be very nice. I am lucky enough to work in a very international environment, with a wide mixture of styles of dress, so I reckon could wear something like this without causing too much comment, certainly less than I would in monoculture, where everyone tends to wear the same.
Anyway, hope I haven't blathered on too much, its not often I get to talk (or write) at length on shoes.
All the best
Rob
"of course" was his reply. I've been in love with the shape ever since.
Their shoes are beatifully proportioned for my lower half, but the toe is not the most typical chisel. For that, they would have to be longer and at 11.5E, my feet are plenty long already.