Today’s Favorites – John Lobb

This shoe, by John Lobb, called ‘Abbey’ just might be my all-time favorite shoe ever created by the illustrious maker. There are many things that draw me to it. First off, the fact that I feel that it cannot really be labeled. It’s hard to create a shoe that does not really fall into one of the common categories, at least not a classic shoe. Maybe some awful trendy shoe that is such a concoction of crap that it does not fall under anything concrete, but a shoe as elegant as this, without being able to be categorized is amazing, at least to me. Sure you could call it a slip-on shoe, but it’s not a loafer. It’s definitely not an oxford, nor is it a monk. It’s a hybrid, but an elegant one. Its unique simplicity is breathtaking, having cleanliness all around the shoe, with I believe only one seam. (Not sure if there is a heel seam) Paired with John Lobb’s lovely Museum calf, this shoe truly stands among the best of them, and not only because it looks good, but because it was a design created by the people at Lobb at a time when everything under the sun has already been done, yet they managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat by creating something that hadn’t, and looked damn good!