BROGUE BROS - PART 1
Via VICE Magazine There is a famous fable from the UK northern-soul scene, from around the time the skinhead look first became popular in about 1969 or 1970. Legend has it that during some unknown all-nighter, at some unknown Manchester club, the fire doors suddenly burst open and a gang of skins piled in. Everyone stopped dancing and waited for the trouble to kick off. The leader of the gang, resplendent in a cashmere Crombie and Levi’s with turnups meticulously measured to one inch sitting neatly and exactly three quarters of an inch above his dark brown Loakes brogues, jumped up on one of the tables and announced that they had come to “smite the philistines that were wearing the wrong clothes, and that they would be paying special attention to those who wore déclassé shoes.” Or, to be more accurate, he said, “We’re gaahna kick the facking shit outtah any cant who int wearin the right facking shoes in ere tonight. Facking slaaaaags.”
These occurrences were not uncommon when I was a kid. For me, they helped invest certain articles of clothing with an incredible power. I can remember the day I was taken to get my first pair of proper brogues. I was 13, and I was so excited I couldn’t sleep the entire night before. My mum took me to the local shoe shop, where I got a pair of dark brown full brogues. I can still remember the overwhelming smell of new leather and the rows of dark wood shelves crammed with shoeboxes. It was like heaven. Most of all I remember how amazing they felt on my feet and how amazing they made me feel. Thankfully, I still get that feeling when wearing a new pair of brogues. That is one of the reasons why I’m so glad that shops like Men’s Traditional Shoes in South London still exist. In a world where every shop is an exact copy of every other in its chain, in every city center, in every shopping mall in the universe, thank fuck for places like Men’s Traditional and people like Fred the Shoe.
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These occurrences were not uncommon when I was a kid. For me, they helped invest certain articles of clothing with an incredible power. I can remember the day I was taken to get my first pair of proper brogues. I was 13, and I was so excited I couldn’t sleep the entire night before. My mum took me to the local shoe shop, where I got a pair of dark brown full brogues. I can still remember the overwhelming smell of new leather and the rows of dark wood shelves crammed with shoeboxes. It was like heaven. Most of all I remember how amazing they felt on my feet and how amazing they made me feel. Thankfully, I still get that feeling when wearing a new pair of brogues. That is one of the reasons why I’m so glad that shops like Men’s Traditional Shoes in South London still exist. In a world where every shop is an exact copy of every other in its chain, in every city center, in every shopping mall in the universe, thank fuck for places like Men’s Traditional and people like Fred the Shoe.
Continue Reading Here
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