Shoes Of The Week - Koji Suzuki

I never tire of looking at shoes made by Japanese bespoke shoemakers, such as the ones pictured here by Koji Suzuki. Somthing about their shoes, even though they may be classic styles, always seem to set themselves apart from their competitors. Take the monk strap above, for example. It's buckles are extremely far apart from eachother and also have concaved details on the leather strap, as opposed to a strap with straight edge lines. Little things like this, although minute, set the shoe apart from the next and create a feel of elegance, due to the addition of simple details that many shoe brands lack in utilizing.

But this also plays on one's culture, as I believe that Japanese society as a whole tends to appreciate and focus on the finer details in life that not only make things seem more simple, but also more elegant. A quick example, in my opinion, is the fact that they use chopsticks and sit on their knees with a staight back as opposed to eating with babaric forks/knives while sitting on modern funiture. And although (obviously) this is not the case for everyone in Japan, it's stuff like this that carries out into most things that they do and/or create. Looking at these shoes, you might just see what I am rambling on about. Simple, elegant, clean looking and most important, exquisite in every meaning of the word!