The Beauty of a Custom Patina

It's my last day in Seattle and therefore I am trying to use my limited time to spend with all of my friends and family, which ultimately meanss that I don't have a lot of time for the blog today. I will do my best tomorrow to have a long post up, but there will not be any guarantees. In the meanwhile, I will leave you with a pair of J.M. Westons' that Paulus Bolten put his magic tough to, creating a beautiful piece of art with this purple patina. While there is much to say on the subject, I think that the picture speaks for itself. No matter where you are in the world, you can take advantage of Paulus' abilities, by sending off your shoes to Paris, and having them sent back! It's worth the price and doesn't take long at all.....

What I Am Wearing

I have never really been a big fan of pairing sport coats with trousers, but since I have a few jackets, I try and force myself as much as I can. The reason that I am not such a big fan of it, is the fact that I feel that the outfit always seems to look a bit jumbled, considering the fact that you don't tend to match the color of your trousers to your jacket, which leaves you pairing many colors together. I do have to say though, that this is something that the Italian population has down to a "T," and something that I truly envy them for. But I guess that with money (and time), I will only get better, as I will purposefully coordinate the outfit at the store and then buy it, as opposed to buying separate pieces (like I do) and trying to work them out at home during my morning rush. Nevertheless, utilizing outfits like this (on the more dress-casual side) allows me to wear my loafers more, which I am currently in a phase with....

Shoes: Gieves & Hawkes (by Edward Green and dyed by Paulus Bolten)
Jacket: Pete Werth
Trousers: H&M
Shirt: Ted Baker
Tie: Gieves & Hawkes

Paris Part 2 -- Paulus Bolten, The Patina Artist

As many of you who frequently read my blog may know, the art of the patina is something that is appreciated and practiced, as a profession, by several people in France. One of those people, would be the magnificent Paulus Bolten, who is the owner of Patine & Glacage Souliers. So while I was in Paris, I figured that even though I love all of my shoes the way they are, I might as well utilize the service to see it transform my shoes, first hand. And so it did. In reality, I did not have a shoe on me (as I left all of the crummy one's back in the States) that I wanted to change, so I bought these Edward Green's made for Gieves & Hawkes shoes (old ones) from a friend of mine who had never worn them and was looking to get rid of them. Talk about a win-win situation: new shoes + Edward Green's + 75 GBP + shoes for patina = amazing deal & timing! And thus you can see the transformation below....

It's an amazing service that Paulus has created here, as it truly can give you a new pair of shoes. I had been dying for a nice pair of burgundy loafers and never see one that I like or that cost less than 700 GBP, so I was at a loss, until I came across Paulus and his service and he was able to make my shoes not only burgundy, but customized too, by keeping the strap the original color and giving the shoe a bit of character. Since the first time that I put up this service, I know that several of my readers have been to see him or have posted their shoes to him in order to utilize the service and from what I know have thoroughly enjoyed it (pics below). The service starts at about 70 euros and goes up from their depending on what you would like done. But, as Paulus is clearly magical with the patina, you can see that it is well worth it.

To contact him directly you can email him at paulbolten@free.fr

Let me know if you do and send me pictures of the before and after so that I can put it up on the blog!

-Justin, "The Shoe Snob"