/\  fair enough, just wondering whether that was still your situation given your having come around a bit to the loafers.  Walk shorts are part of summer for me, but every man got a right to decide his own destiny, the maine thing is: enjoy your Rancourts, good choice buddy, wear them in good health!

What blog is that? (We know which blog it isn't.)

Remembering my earliest religious instruction: "To the pure all things are pure." ...
To that I would just add that to the uncomplicated all things are uncomplicated.
Nothing wrong with that.

Dear Bop,

Surely all of this is done  ?

For you a part of Ivy is the whole.

And so we agree.

/\  haha the low vamp in the wrong hands or on the wrong feet can be almost infuriating ... the Brooks/Alden tassel in cordovan definitely is seen less these days, it comes off as a little too clubby but it kind of always did ... but they can be very comfortable and almost slipper-like .....

.... still have mine from '85 or so somewhere in this crackerbox palace though and when I unearth them I will try to get some more use out of them by wearing them to family dinners but as far as inflicting them on the general public goes .....

the other day I was in the fancy market buying some smoked fish for some Florida cracker fun and I saw an old fop attorney nemesis notorious for his campy regalia including clocked socks, contrast spread collars, low vamps, all that passe junk, and he was still stuck in 1988  ....  looked like he was about to be indicted ......

anyway I'm with you on the greatness Alden/Brooks cordovan penny loafer, which we defended forever in the face of Uncle Jim's persistent inveighing against them ......

it is too bad they are so expensive though .....

Thoughtful stuff Horace and most interesting thanks. As you say, there still seems to be enough of a body of interest in the ivy look, even on this side of the pond, to inspire entrepreurial types to start their own clothing projects. Lean Garments, run by a couple of Scandinavian lads springs to mind, as does Hardy and Johnson, run by a couple of (slightly more mature) London lads. They all seem to start at the point of being fed up with not being able to buy the stuff they want new so they decide to make small runs and sell to others as well. They sell everything they can make and hats off to them, we should support them if we can.

Uncle - well he's had more comebacks on the forum than Rocky Balboa, but like all of us, he seems to need longer rests between his exertions and performance tails off more rapidly. I'm sure he's still got a lot to say, but he can't be bothered to say it so just keeps saying the things he likes saying. He gets more fun out of annoying people these days and reminds me of those old chaps in the Muppetts who used to say 'What do you think of the show so far? .....'Rubbish!!'

Sorry -- I must've missed one page on this thread.  I had forgotten about the LHS Alden (or the Japanese makes).  It's too dizzying for me to parse a taxonomy of the ol' weejun/penny but there do seem to be a few good English-made options as well.  IIRC, the LHS Alden (maybe only a special edition), was distinct from the 986.  In last and materials.  And maybe a detail or two. I remember seeing at least one Paraboot that I liked too.  It's definitely a topic to return to (for me at least).  I could argue for and against the merits of the totemic items of our mutual obsession for a while.

Unlike the say the tassle loafer (Brooks or not), I think the penny/weejun hasn't dated.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I see it as much less subject to certain vagaries.

That said, and speaking of vagaries of taste, someone mentioned gunboats.  Always been a fan.  I don't know how they work in England -- but you can pull it off here in "business" or town dress.  I think a few of the items with their origin in sport make that transition more easily than they do in the UK or Continent.  Maybe this has all changed now.    But at least it's an observation I've made.  Kind of like the button shirt.

That said -- two things that I'd want to keep in mind.  I suppose A) the majority of people don't think about these kinds of things and what they wear is driven either by habits they acquired when they did think about it or when they were cognizant of a style or B) they buy what they are offered in store.

how to explain that the trad/ivy endured in the US despite Armani and Armani like style in the 80's -- it seemed like all of Wall St. (and their equivalents in other cities) was wearing that shit at one time.  But maybe that's just how I remember it.

Last edited by Horace (2016-07-23 14:39:10)

How do they size up, Yuca? I seem to have a life-time struggle with finding penny loafers that fit/stay on my feet/don't crush my feet/don't look like plastic/made in the US.