The nice thing about Riccardo Bestetti’s shoes is the fact that you can clearly see the defined lines that have been shaped by the lasting of the leather over the last. If not shaped properly during the making process these lines can be blurred into nothing, looking like the last was just some round blob. Granted, most makers have the skill to not let this happen but…..just saying. Now, the wholecut is the absolute hardest shoe to last, because you don’t have the give that is created by having multiple pieces of leather stitched together. It being one piece makes it much harder to shape and pull over the last without any air pockets being created, particularly on the outside of the bottom bit of lacing. But looking at these shoes, you see that it was done properly and every line of that last is represented here, from good making. Now aside from being beautifully shaped, I love the idea of a gray wholecut, much better than the black version that is so necessary in today’s society. But imagine if we let go of the idea of a black shoe being standard….how nice would it be to have gray be the new black? For me, it would be amazing!
7 thoughts on “Shoes Of The Week – Bestetti Gray Wholecuts”
good dress shoe
You say it would be nice if grey shoes would be worn as a”standard” color over black. And that it would be “amazing” for you personally.
Is there anything in the nature of the color grey that makes you have such strong feelings towards a transition from black to grey?
Doesn’t most of the appeal for you lie in the fact that grey is rare and black is common.
If the answer to that question is yes, wouldn’t the attraction be lost if grey became standard and black made it’s way into obscurity?
I ask because as you know I work with shoes and to call it a passion of mine would almost be an understatement.
Still I struggle to see in what ways grey is so much nicer/amazing compared to it’s close cousin black. Other then getting less airtime.
peace
D.W
Any news about the Bestetti rtw collection? It would be awesome if he launched something similar in shape to this as rtw…
Great looking shoes!
I also love grey and I tried to make the GG rotschild in grey but Gaziano & Girling did not want do to grey. Do you have any idea why? Is grey leather harder to find?
Daniel W – Ahh how well you know me, Dan! You are so funny! I could not imagine how you would feel if all of the black leather in the world ceased to exist… Thanks for stumping me 🙂
Anon – Nothing yet, but he will send me more pics of the collection once they are all finalized, so keep reading and it will happen soon. But not sure if the RTW will have shapes like this, maybe, but not sure as this shape seems to be pretty standard for his bespoke stuff. Most makers don’t want to blur the lines between their bespoke and RTW.
Claes – No idea really? I think that yes, it would be hard to find good leather in gray, but not sure as to why they did not want to. I have seen the Rothschild in gray before, but it was an patina’d MTO…?
http://wordpress.atelier-du-chausseur.com/2010/01/09/roschild-patine-vieux-gris
-Justin
Yes I have seen those as well but I guess they are bleached or something.
I ended up asking Vass to do the shoe instead and they cold do grey, I actually got the idea from your blog after having seen these shoes:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m5X_kyn_OEA/TVRvmnWy1hI/AAAAAAAABnQ/1vfBQZGXuaY/s1600/clairevoy1.jpg
Claes – Well, I am glad that you were at least able to get it sorted out in the long run. I would love to see the pics of your Vass ones. Yes, the Clairvoy shoes are remarkable, too bad I can’t find more info/pics on them….
-Justin