The Downfall Of Church's Shoes

Ever since the Prada group purchased English footwear brand, Church's, there continuously seems to be a steady decline in quality, integrity and style, almost as if Prada is turning Church's into a fashion company, much like Prada itself. I don't understand this, as the old saying goes, "don't fix something that isn't broken," and Church's were not broken, at least not in integrity....They used to make a lovely shoe, one that used good leather, could last you nearly a lifetime, and held it's classic yet fundamental values of making a great English-made shoe. These days, I just can't seem to say that I feel that this is still the motto. Now, it's like, 'what trend can we tackle next?' Sometimes it works, like this SS2012 collection with all of their colored suede loafers. That was a brilliant idea. Classic with a subtle twist. But camouflage on the soles? Really? That's so in style with the fashion houses right now, but not something that I would expect to see being done by +100 year old classic shoe company. They are meant to live out style....not follow trends that won't last. As stupid as it may sound, sometimes I actually feel sad that a company with such a great heritage, seems to be loosing all of its history, through bad decisions by people who don't actually care about what it took to create this name, a name that was synonymous with good shoes, but only seem intent on tearing it down. What a shame....
 

Pictures Courtesy Of: The Shoe Buff

What I Am Wearing - Spectators

It's not very often that I break out my pair of 1920's Chicago gangster-style spectators, but I always love the reactions that I get when I do. It's funny, because I never thought of them as "gangster-style" but this is a frequent comment that I receive amongst my colleagues here in London. I always looked at them as a very dandy-ish style shoe that elegant gentleman wore in the southern states of America when they wanted to dress up for festive garden parties or the likes of that. And while I am sure that their history goes back in a much more extensive way than that, it's just something that is embedded in my mind, being American and all. But now that I am one of the millions of viewers that watches the magnificent series, Boardwalk Empire, I can understand why they may receive this 'gangster' moniker. Nevertheless, there was a period when Church's were doing these in all types of color options (even white with yellow) and while I wanted to get one of each, I decided that I would just go with the most classic of them, as pictured here.

Shoes: Church's
Suit: MTM Gieves & Hawkes
Shirt: Primark
Tie: XMI Platinum
Socks: Mes Chaussettes Rouges

Today's Favorites - Church's Women's Collection

I walk by the Church's store, in Burlington Arcade, every morning and afternoon and am constantly impressed by their women's collection and always baffled by the men's collections. It's like they literally took all of the designer talent and put them onto the women's side of the company. On a constant basis there are always these uniquely fresh new styles on the women's side of the store, but on the men's side, it's the same 'ol boring, black and dark brown cap toes and penny loafers. I can understand that the classic black Church's shoe is a staple piece in the London working man's wardrobe, but a little bit of new designs and colorways would not detract from their image, at least in my mind, it would boost it! Because of that, and the fact that their women's shoes could pass as men's, I figured that I would share some of it with you. It's a shame that I could not find their newest model because it has been the best yet. It reminds me of a Paul Smith shoe really, in that it's classic (a cap toe) but also has it's modern twist by adding perforations throughout the entire upper, so that it does not look like your average, boring cap toe. It's quite nice really. That being, if your wife or girlfriend is looking for some new shoes (that look like men's), then I would steer her in the direction of Church's Spring/Summer 2011 line!