Brogued, Bothered, & Besuited

The days flow in unceasing rhythm, and a new year beckons. It is important, as you know, to face the approaching Sturmwind appropriately clothed in classic finery. In this exclusive photo (at left), I am wearing a Corneliani suit in a lightweight chalk stripe pattern and a bespoke pair of Cleverley brogues in City black. Note the fine chisel toes on the shoes. At my request, the toecaps have been specially reinforced with aerospace-grade titanium, for when I kick against the Bolshevik menace. If you spot a tall, well-dressed gent patrolling the carriageways at dawn, do stop and say hello.

Hackett On Shoes

“My Father once said to me ‘I am too poor to buy cheap shoes’ and taking his advice to heart I now have a closet full of shoes. I have a passion for shoes and probably my favourite are the first pair I had made by George Cleverley about thirty years ago and they are still going strong. They are black punched oxfords. It is well known that women always notice men’s shoes, so if you want to make a good impression…”

Jeremy Hackett

The Cleverley Group

A collection of black half-brogues, by G. J. Cleverley,
auctioned in London, 14 Nov 2000



Cleverley Imitation Brogues

As you know, I've a thing for fine shoes. How many pairs are in my collection? Don't even go there. Anyway, pictured (at left) is a set of black imitation wingtip brogues from Cleverley in London. I received them several months ago and have not yet taken them out for a test drive; I shall do so soon and send a report. They are styled imitation brogues because, unlike traditional brogues that have an additional layer of perforated ('brogued') leather placed on top of the toe, vamp, and quarter, these feature a single layer of leather into which a brogue-like design has been etched. The 'perforations' that you see are merely superficial markings. This is a lighter, sleeker design, to my mind, which makes it roaringly suitable for the environments in which chaps such as moi tend to operate.

N. Tuczek

Cleverley Collection

The photograph (at left) depicts the shoe collection of the Baron de Redé (1922-2004), a collection comprising as I understand it mostly Cleverley models. You will note the preponderance of brogues and loafers. My eyes are drawn to the number of black brogues, a particular favourite of mine. As they say: "Black brogues, black heart". The late baron, a prominent banker and aesthete, had exceptionally narrow feet, for which bespoke shoes from Cleverley in London were the most appropriate solution. In return the company named a model of shoe after him: a smart chisel-toed loafer with tied tassels, in versions of black calf and brown suede. A wonderful tribute if ever there was one. When I examine my own shoe collection it's apparent black prevails. For me it's most useful, spending as I do most of my waking hours in dank private banking orifices. What colour dominates your collection?

Candid Bespoke

Life is too short not to go bespoke. It's a directive around which I've ordered much of my adult life, and I think you should, too. The photo (at left) shows a recently delivered pair of bespoke slip-ons from London. I like to think they have a vaguely armoured look, like a dinosaur or armadillo, or the riveted plating of a Tiger I stalking Bolsheviks by moonlight in a Russian forest. Note the 2" cuffs on the dark grey worsted trousers. Most of my suits and shoes are in charcoal and black respectively, you will have noticed, as befits a chap who works in a financial orifice most of the day. I'll leave the peacocking to other men who need the attention.

The Cleverley Shape

A pair of G.J. Cleverley bespoke brogues
and copy of Baily's Hunting Directory from my
beagling days

From Savile Row Style Magazine, Spring 2010 Edition:

As for a defining house style, the so-called ‘Cleverley Shape’ has graced the feet of many through the past half century or so.

Glasgow explains. “When Cleverley was alive, he’d say his shoes were ‘suspiciously square’. That was his terminology. His toe-shape was unique to him. He used to cut the corner off a bit, just a shade.”

What Cleverley’s shoes have also become renowned for is their longevity. Looked after properly, there is no reason why a handmade pair of their bespoke shoes shouldn’t last a man through his working life.

Indeed, Glasgow mentions that ‘it is not uncommon’ for a pair to be brought back for a little care and attention some 25 years after they were made. Shoe trees, diligent polishing and shoe repairs are the requirements to ensure their long life, he adds.

G.J. Cleverley: Bespoke Black Brogues

Black brogues, black heart

I have a thing for fine shoes, if you haven't noticed. The photographic image (at left) shows a pair of bespoke black full brogues from G.J. Cleverley in London. I received them last year. Note the aggressive broguing and fine chisel toe. They sit next to a Brooks Brothers lightweight sack suit in grey pinstripe with a 3/2 roll. The shoes are in pre-polish mode; I let them out of their cage so the Saphir Médaille d'Or Renovateur cleaner and conditioner could soak in. In my own personal Shoe Pyramid, on which I shall expound at a later date, black and burgundy shoes are at the top. Chestnut shoes are nice--don't get me wrong--but in my view they have become a sign of the sartorial amateur, particularly in business settings. Black shoes are ideal for City wear and mark the owner as a man of serious intentions and a 'no-nonsense' approach to things. Which make them perfect camouflage for superfluous chaps like moi.

Fairbanks: Dashing Shoes By Cleverley

If you detect a certain lightness in my step, surely it is because I am wearing dashing shoes. The summer season calls for lighter suitings and a different approach to footwear. One might say, a more elegant approach. At left is pictured a pair of black elastic-sided shoes, the Fairbanks model from the Anthony Cleverley line at G.J. Cleverley in London. The firm refers to it as a galoshed shoe, which I think is a rather unfortunate choice of word, though it is the company's signature style. I am quite fond of it. From my childhood I recall my grandfather, a Canadian oil company executive, in such shoes. In the photo I am wearing a sharkskin suit in light grey and fine charcoal socks, both from Brooks Brothers. In related news, in light of ongoing events in London, I am in the process of organising a band of overseas exiles to jet over to England to defend our favourite clothing and shoe establishments from the invading savages. Because God knows the pussified indigenous inhabitants will not do it themselves. We shall be known as the Savile Row Irregulars, or Admiral Cod's Own Hussars. You know where to find me.

Bespoke Cleverley Brogues

The photographic image (at left) depicts a bespoke pair of brogues from Cleverley in a virgin calf's blood merlot colour. From initial meeting to delivery took approximately 9 months. It was well worth the wait. They fit like a glove, as well they should. I call this pair my "Banker Shoes." The dark blood shade symbolises the psychological blood-letting that occurs when I have to deal with recalcitrant clients who spend money on utterly frivolous things such as sports cars, jets, and (worst of all) hot girlfriends. The sharp Cleverley chisel toe is handy for kicking such clients in the backside and then making up over cocktails afterwards in a tony part of town.

Russia Calf Wallet

G.J. Cleverley Russia calf wallet and Brooks Brothers chalk stripe suit

My editor has asked me to scribble a few words on men's leather accessories ("keep it clean, LBF!"), so I have decided to oblige. The photo (at port) depicts a Russia calf wallet from G.J. Cleverley. Show me a man's wallet and I will tell you what sort of chap he is. In this case I am no doubt revealed as shallow, superficial, and unserious, with superfluous resources, which, I suppose, is more or less accurate under current circumstances. Are you surprised? You should not be. It could hardly be otherwise. Allow me to be embarrassingly candid for a moment. Approaching middle age, and as a quasi-orphan, I am bereft of family and obligations thereof; furthermore, I feel deeply the loss of traditional connection to God, nation, tribe, and woman. Everything worth fighting and dying for, it seems, has been obliterated. Our only purpose here apparently is to eat, shop, fuck, and die. Oblivion awaits. But enough of such gloom. Nature will prevail. It is our task in the meantime to remain patient. In this, the end stage of the Kali Yuga, seek out the red slayers of Kshatriya underground with renewed aim. Let us smile at one another and cut fine figures in the afternoon sun. Decision time is near.

Cleverley Black Brogues

Paul Stuart DB suit and Cleverley brogues with side-gusset and faux lacing

Note Cleverley chisel toe and thick trouser cuffs

Cleverley Shoes

George Cleverley Shoes from Mike Saunders on Vimeo.

Cleverley Bespoke Brogues

The winter monsoons this year have hit Southern California with a vengeance. The downpour has lasted at least a week with no respite. A small river has formed outside the high walls of Schloss von AC. I swear I saw an otter swim by, but it could have been the effects of the wine and codeine. All the same, it is most tiresome. If conditions persist I shall have to send for a rescue-yacht laden with champagne and foie gras. And if you decide to stop by for tea or cocktails, please do ring ahead so I can send a specially-modified Thames launch to meet you. My point is, this is not the climate in which to wear my new pair of bespoke brogues from G.J. Cleverley (above). Note the adelaide half-brogue style, cabernet virgin calf's blood colour, and finely chiseled toe. It took almost nine months from measuring and fitting to delivery. It was well worth the wait. A fine work of art to be sure, but also a most practical item of footwear just begging to be paired with Tweed and quilted Barbour and taken on a test run round the local cocktail party circuit. Just as soon as the rains stop.

Cleverley Fairbanks

Like a couple of abandoned puppies, these shoes just showed up at my front door one day looking for a home. The Fairbanks elastic-sided slip-on model (pictured at left) from the new semi-bespoke Anthony Cleverley line at G.J. Cleverley & Co. Ltd.. I do not specifically recall ordering them and may have done so while enjoying a few cocktails with betweeded chums in Beverly Hills. Some people crash their Benz or fall down stairs after one too many drinks; I order semi-bespoke shoes. Whatever. It happens. At any rate, I think I shall keep them. This past January the American men's journal Esquire published a blurb on the Anthony Cleverley line, which I reproduce here:

London, the early 1960s: The Beatles were blowing up, Carnaby Street was heating up, and G. J. Cleverley was kitting out the world's biggest badasses with his long, lean bespoke shoes. But Cleverley wasn't the only shoemaker in town or, as it turns out, in his own family. His brother's son Anthony was a hell of a shoemaker, too, but Anthony, by accounts an eccentric, physically disabled recluse, preferred to work alone, holed up in the attic of his north London home, making shoes for a few rich clients. Over the decades, Anthony filled a notebook with sketches of his favorite designs, and before he died in 1997, he willed that book to G. J. Cleverley's current owner, George Glasgow. For years the book sat untouched, but when Glasgow began considering ways to expand his company, he turned to Anthony's book and found sketches for narrowly shaped, ingeniously detailed shoes. Seven of Anthony's best designs now make up G. J. Cleverley's new semi-bespoke line, Anthony Cleverley, and they might just make him famous yet.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/endorsement/cleverley-shoes-012110#ixzz14t1hDPn3

George Cleverley & Co. Ltd. On Tour 2010

Cleverley Loafers & Seersucker-in-Plaid

Work hard play hard, and one begins to undergo the consequences. A bit of blood in the undercarriage, the result I suspect of drinking large amounts of champagne and whiskey, has forced me to slow down and spend some time chez maison. I have therefore taken the opportunity to inspect the inventory and see what I have in stock for summer wear. In this exclusive archival photo you can see quite clearly a pair of Cleverley loafers cradled in the adoring embrace of a J.Press sport coat. I think they make a splendid trio. The shoes are popularly known as 'butterfly loafers,' for some reason, I have learned, but I certainly do not look or feel like a butterfly when I wear them. The sport coat is a plaid seersucker number with enough spilt G&Ts in the fabric that one could probably fashion a decent cocktail if one wrung hard enough. Better spilt gin, I suppose, than spilt blood. Per aspera ad astra.

Admiral Cod On Tour: Beverly Hills Bespoke

I paid for sex in Beverly Hills.

Well, not exactly. I certainly paid— but not for sex. My purchase was even better than sex: bespoke shoes from G.J. Cleverley & Co. Ltd.

But the process was roughly similar (from what I understand). The harried phone calls confirming the appointment. The arrival at the hotel. The awkward inquiries at reception. The anxious knock at the room door, wondering who and what one would discover splayed out before one in the suite. And finally the sampling of the delights within.

I was well rewarded this time. The several dozen shoes arranged throughout the rooms presented a dazzling sight. The combination of Southern California sunlight and high-grade shoe leather was intoxicating. If smelling salts had been available, I probably would have taken them.

In the end I submitted two orders, including a pair of chisel-toed, punched-cap, elastic-sided slip-ons in black calf (for which the firm is known) and a pair of chisel-toed adelaide semi-brogues in virgin calf’s blood claret. Plus, I picked out a selection of Russia calf accessories to tide me over until the shoes are ready later this year.

I drove home as if in a dream. Ensconced within my antiquated Mercedes Benz motor car, I switched on the record player and put on one of my favourite Bowie LPs for the trip back to OC. Vinyl, in case you were wondering, sounds even better at 100mph than it does at 65mph.

If I had been going slow enough, you would have seen me drive by with a smile on my face and a friendly wave hello.

Cleverley Cameo

The word on the street is that I shall be visiting Beverly Hills, CA in late April to meet with the kind chaps at G.J. Cleverley & Co. Ltd.. I have my deep sapphire blue eye on a black calf semi-brogue with chiselled toe and wanton curve. Perhaps I will do, if I can rearrange my schedule and if fellow members allow me to shirk for just a few hours the responsibilities incumbent upon me as co-founder and chief cocktail inspector of the Exiles Dining Society (TEDS). Needless to say I am rather excited about the prospect of a day-trip, as I am currently revamping my entire business shoe collection, and plus, I have not visited Northern California in absolute ages. (Do they still speak English up there? We shall soon find out). Say a prayer for me and keep your jewel-bedecked fingers crossed that my antiquated motor car (the 'S' in S-Class stands for shite) does not suffer a smash-up on the way.