In their 1965 hit song, Help!, The Beatles sang:
“and now my life has changed in oh so many ways.”
57 years later, those lyrics were never more relevant then they are right now. As we head into our 2nd year of this dreadful pandemic, we have seen so many changes that have created such a shift in our lifestyles, well, it just boggles the mind.
It seems like a lifetime ago that Mrs. Gold and I would be standing in the garage wiping down every item from our grocery shopping before bringing it into the house or leaving Amazon/UPS/FedEx packages in the garage for a day (or two) before opening them (hey… there could be shoes in that box!)
When my now 90-year old mother was convalescing in a nursing home after a brief hospital stay, we had to sit outside of the building and speak to her through her bedroom window because no visitors were allowed inside due to Covid restrictions. Thankfully, her room was located on the first floor.
And if you think the drive-up lines are long now to get a PCR test, it was only a short time ago that the drive-up lines at the liquor store were just as long.
And along with all of this came those three words that mean so many different things to so many different people. For some, it’s a dream come true. For others, it was a nightmare of epic proportion. Of course, the three words I am speaking of are…
Work… from… home.
Which brings me to the topic of this thread.
As a young man starting out in the legal profession, I wore a suit everyday. And for nearly 30 years, I continued to wear a suit to work everyday. Over that span of time, you developed your sense of style from the type of suits you preferred, neckwear, shirts, hosiery, accessories, raincoat, umbrella, hats and of course…. Footwear.
And the list goes on. And all this assemblage of sartorial splendor was done because you:
Went… to… work.
Over the last two years this paradigm shift has moved us from the Brooks Brothers suit to the adidas track suit. Instead of a non-dairy creamer used at the coffee machine in the office, Half and Half became the way people dressed for Zoom meetings while working from home.
Imagine walking around the office in just a shirt and tie with boxer briefs and slippers (ok… the office holiday party doesn’t count
). They don’t even put on a nice pair of shoes. Why? Because you don’t need them anymore and, unfortunately, neither do I.
Even when we did return to the office, the formality for the most part, did not return. Everyday is now dress down Friday. Dress down Friday is no longer chinos, a polo shirt and a pair of loafers (without socks would be considered edgy) but rather jeans or joggers with sneakers and quarter-zip sweater or sweatshirt.
The man in the gray flannel suit is dead.
Which led me to the great footwear purge of 2021 (…and 2022). When I looked at the shoes in my closet I could recall a time when these shoes were all put to good use in a fairly sizable rotation.
As a result of accumulating footwear over the years, I honed my shoe-polishing skills which became a nice respite while listening to some music or watching a ballgame and polishing/bulling a pair of captoes or deer-boning creases out of a pair of shell Cordovan shoes.
Alas, the jars of Saphir cream polish and tins of wax polish along with the horse hair, goat’s hair and pig bristle brushes all sit idle next to the sleeking and deer bones and unused chamois.
So I decided it was time to make room in my closet and sell these shoes since they were still in great condition (even for being 20+ years old) and still had plenty of life left.
Over the next few posts, I’ve listed some of the footwear that I purged in 2021 (… 2022). Most had served me well over the last 25 years and still have many more years of wear left.
I hope their new owners enjoy (and take care of) them as much as I did.
THE FORMAL SHOES
All of these formal shoes were purchased from Johnston & Murphy around the late Nineties thru the early 2000’s. It was soon thereafter that I became an Alden convert.
At that time, IMO, J&M was still on par with Allen Edmonds and producing well-crafted, re-craftable shoes that were Made in the USA. It was during this time that I was on a first name basis with the UPS person who delivered an unending parade of boxes from J&M to my office. Steve was his name and upon every delivery from J&M, Steve would ask: “Which color are these?”
The first three pair pictured below are all the Aldrich II model from J&M’s Aristocraft collection. They were versatile and very comfortable so I would order them in various colors. And they all held up well thanks to some proper care and maintenance.
The next 3 pair were from the J&M flagship line, the Crown Aristocraft collection. Some of you may recognize the first pair pictured below as the pair I had refurbished at B. Nelson. These sold rather quickly and, I might add, that I’ve since seen the Buyer is currently re-selling them at almost double the price. And I got news for you, they’re worth it.
Gotta love capitalism.
The Georgetown II
The Conley
I don’t recall the name of this shoe but it was a Ltd. edition.
THE CASUAL SHOES
I have found that over the years, my shoe size as well as the shape of my feet has changed somewhat.
I don’t imagine that it is all that uncommon to see that after so many years.
Although I still enjoyed the look and style of the 3 shoes pictured below, they just didn’t really fit anymore.
The Allen Edmonds “Cole” loafer in the chocolate suede was really a handsome shoe and even though I’m currently in a “suede phase”, I was never going to wear them. I hated to part with them but I had to face the facts.
The next two pair are the Ski-Moc II by J&M, which I don’t think they make anymore and that’s unfortunate. These loafers were a great take on the classic Ivy-League, beef-roll penny. For me, the Ski-Moc II beat out the Bass Weejun by a mile.
This last pair was from J&M’s “Made in Italy” collection and was a nice versatile shoe in “Tuscan Red” that could be dressed up or dressed down.
All of these shoes sold at prices ranging anywhere from 20% to 50% of their original cost. Not bad for footwear that were several decades old.
But I am pleased to think that the buyers got some quality shoes at a great price and maybe even see the benefits from proper shoe care and maintenance.
Up next….
THE BOOTS and THE SNEAKERS.
“and now my life has changed in oh so many ways.”
57 years later, those lyrics were never more relevant then they are right now. As we head into our 2nd year of this dreadful pandemic, we have seen so many changes that have created such a shift in our lifestyles, well, it just boggles the mind.
It seems like a lifetime ago that Mrs. Gold and I would be standing in the garage wiping down every item from our grocery shopping before bringing it into the house or leaving Amazon/UPS/FedEx packages in the garage for a day (or two) before opening them (hey… there could be shoes in that box!)
When my now 90-year old mother was convalescing in a nursing home after a brief hospital stay, we had to sit outside of the building and speak to her through her bedroom window because no visitors were allowed inside due to Covid restrictions. Thankfully, her room was located on the first floor.
And if you think the drive-up lines are long now to get a PCR test, it was only a short time ago that the drive-up lines at the liquor store were just as long.
And along with all of this came those three words that mean so many different things to so many different people. For some, it’s a dream come true. For others, it was a nightmare of epic proportion. Of course, the three words I am speaking of are…
Work… from… home.
Which brings me to the topic of this thread.
As a young man starting out in the legal profession, I wore a suit everyday. And for nearly 30 years, I continued to wear a suit to work everyday. Over that span of time, you developed your sense of style from the type of suits you preferred, neckwear, shirts, hosiery, accessories, raincoat, umbrella, hats and of course…. Footwear.
And the list goes on. And all this assemblage of sartorial splendor was done because you:
Went… to… work.
Over the last two years this paradigm shift has moved us from the Brooks Brothers suit to the adidas track suit. Instead of a non-dairy creamer used at the coffee machine in the office, Half and Half became the way people dressed for Zoom meetings while working from home.
Imagine walking around the office in just a shirt and tie with boxer briefs and slippers (ok… the office holiday party doesn’t count
). They don’t even put on a nice pair of shoes. Why? Because you don’t need them anymore and, unfortunately, neither do I.Even when we did return to the office, the formality for the most part, did not return. Everyday is now dress down Friday. Dress down Friday is no longer chinos, a polo shirt and a pair of loafers (without socks would be considered edgy) but rather jeans or joggers with sneakers and quarter-zip sweater or sweatshirt.
The man in the gray flannel suit is dead.
Which led me to the great footwear purge of 2021 (…and 2022). When I looked at the shoes in my closet I could recall a time when these shoes were all put to good use in a fairly sizable rotation.
As a result of accumulating footwear over the years, I honed my shoe-polishing skills which became a nice respite while listening to some music or watching a ballgame and polishing/bulling a pair of captoes or deer-boning creases out of a pair of shell Cordovan shoes.
Alas, the jars of Saphir cream polish and tins of wax polish along with the horse hair, goat’s hair and pig bristle brushes all sit idle next to the sleeking and deer bones and unused chamois.
So I decided it was time to make room in my closet and sell these shoes since they were still in great condition (even for being 20+ years old) and still had plenty of life left.
Over the next few posts, I’ve listed some of the footwear that I purged in 2021 (… 2022). Most had served me well over the last 25 years and still have many more years of wear left.
I hope their new owners enjoy (and take care of) them as much as I did.
THE FORMAL SHOES
All of these formal shoes were purchased from Johnston & Murphy around the late Nineties thru the early 2000’s. It was soon thereafter that I became an Alden convert.
At that time, IMO, J&M was still on par with Allen Edmonds and producing well-crafted, re-craftable shoes that were Made in the USA. It was during this time that I was on a first name basis with the UPS person who delivered an unending parade of boxes from J&M to my office. Steve was his name and upon every delivery from J&M, Steve would ask: “Which color are these?”
The first three pair pictured below are all the Aldrich II model from J&M’s Aristocraft collection. They were versatile and very comfortable so I would order them in various colors. And they all held up well thanks to some proper care and maintenance.
The next 3 pair were from the J&M flagship line, the Crown Aristocraft collection. Some of you may recognize the first pair pictured below as the pair I had refurbished at B. Nelson. These sold rather quickly and, I might add, that I’ve since seen the Buyer is currently re-selling them at almost double the price. And I got news for you, they’re worth it.
Gotta love capitalism.
The Georgetown II
The Conley
I don’t recall the name of this shoe but it was a Ltd. edition.
THE CASUAL SHOES
I have found that over the years, my shoe size as well as the shape of my feet has changed somewhat.
I don’t imagine that it is all that uncommon to see that after so many years.
Although I still enjoyed the look and style of the 3 shoes pictured below, they just didn’t really fit anymore.
The Allen Edmonds “Cole” loafer in the chocolate suede was really a handsome shoe and even though I’m currently in a “suede phase”, I was never going to wear them. I hated to part with them but I had to face the facts.
The next two pair are the Ski-Moc II by J&M, which I don’t think they make anymore and that’s unfortunate. These loafers were a great take on the classic Ivy-League, beef-roll penny. For me, the Ski-Moc II beat out the Bass Weejun by a mile.
This last pair was from J&M’s “Made in Italy” collection and was a nice versatile shoe in “Tuscan Red” that could be dressed up or dressed down.
All of these shoes sold at prices ranging anywhere from 20% to 50% of their original cost. Not bad for footwear that were several decades old.
But I am pleased to think that the buyers got some quality shoes at a great price and maybe even see the benefits from proper shoe care and maintenance.
Up next….
THE BOOTS and THE SNEAKERS.
Last edited:
, along with any purge, comes new acquisitions. 
