Custom Made Shoes in Kuala Lumpur

This is a pair of custom hand made shoes specially ordered by yours truly. I basically told the chap making it that I wanted a pair of wholecut shoes with a medallion pattern up front. And this was what I got. It also has a bevelled waist as requested (even though it is still a little wide) and it basically a type of pegged shoe - using steel nails instead of wooden pegs like those you see in bespoke shoes from Eastern Europe. But the great thing is that these are Made In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to be exact. It is pegged at the waist as well as the front of the sole. The welt you see on top is purely decorative. 

The actual colour of the shoes are below, as the shoemaker (an Indonesian chap based at a leather goods shop located on the 1st floor of the Campbell Complex, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur) used some cheap polish on it. I basically used nail polish remover to get its original colour back which is a lighter chestnut? colour like the photo below.

Hand-made Capal for Eid Ul Fitr

This year I decided to bring in a little more tradition into my Hari Raya Aidil-Fitri (that's what most call Eid-ul-Fitr over here in Malaysia) footwear. A pair of traditional hand made capal.

The Capal or Chapal as some spell it has its origins in the Indian sub-continent and was believed to be first brought to these parts by traders to Malacca in the 15th century and was assumed to be widely used by those of the Malacca Sultanate. The Indian origin chapal was then made and adapted by local Malays into what we see today - a thong slipper made out of leather. The 'Y' shaped strap is made from soft cow leather and a tougher buffalo hide is used to make the top part of the sole. It has a rubber sole with a 1-1.5inch heel instead of being flat like a pair of flip flops. 

Patina & Why Cheap Italian Shoes Are Useful

This is a pair of shoes made by Andrea Cammelli, one of the million or so shoe makers in Italy. I've decided to give it a new lease of life with a bottle of Cutex nail polish remover, leather conditioner, shoe cream and polish.

Actually, I wanted to experiment a little on it. As I mentioned earlier I got this pair of shoes at a bargain. RM150.00 at Tangs down from its original list price of around RM500.00. Typically Italian budget brown shoes with glued/stuck on construction (which I've added a thin slice of Vibram to the sole and heel so that it'll be a perfect beater work shoe for me and the Malaysian weather). It also had a full leather lined upper but it has that sliightly square toed look to it. Not like those ridiculously square toed crap. Almost, but with the elongated shape of the last it is wearable with a pair of slim cut trousers.

The brown leather of this cheap pair of shoes is typically Italian. Thin, and well, cheap feeling. Not substantial like some of the other shoes I have but not as thin as those glove leather shoes that Italians seem to use most of the time. Anyway, I think they made this shoe using polish instead of dye. So I resorted to cutex to get rid of the polish in a few strategic spots. Rubbing harder in those spots which you want it to be lighter and lightly rubbing the parts you want it to retain some darker shade on the leather. After that, condition the leather using leather conditioner, then a layer or two of shoe cream (in light brown, mid brown and dark brown) and then a layer of dark brown polish.

I must say it somehow worked for me. The shoe with new waxed laces looked a million times better than the tired old look. More patina/antiquing making it look slightly more special to wear. And the investment was basically a bottle of cutex and some time to kill.

Not bad for a first time effort eh? And this is why a cheap pair or three of Italian shoes come in handy.

Update: The shoe gets another rework three years on. Read it here folks.

The Reason I Fancy Italian Shoes A Tad More....

...than English ones is the fact that they're slightly decadent, slightly over the top and slightly flamboyant. I do have a few pairs of English made ones, but these days, every time I end up buying a new pair of shoes it ends up being Italian.

Take this pair of StefanoBi. It may seem like a typical pair of dark brown brogues, but the madness is in the details. The antiquing, while not as rich as the ones on the pair of Santoni I featured earlier is quite good. The shoelaces have a little knot at the end instead of crimped plastic makes it a tad more playful than the usual straight laced brogue. And then we get to the sole of the shoe....Or soul of the shoe.

Now this is usually a place where no one would actually see, but it still is beautifully embellished.  The sole is dyed/coloured a nice brown/green. It basically is patina for the sole of the shoe. The narrowest part of the shoe has a fiddled (or beveled) waist and is beautiful to look at. I have to apologise for the photo as I am couldn't find the correct angle to capture this detail. Anyway, add some strategically placed nails to the front and on the heel and everything comes together (It's those the little details) and the final outcome is pure decadence. Well maybe not as decadent as some other shoes out there. A Silvano Lattanzi or a Branchini (who used to own StefanoBi before selling it off to LVMH) comes to mind for something totally outrageous. Or if we add the French custom patinaed shoes  .....hmmm. But these would cost a kidney or a leg in this part of the world.


 Of course there are those that say Italian shoes aren't as well constructed as some British goodyear welted ones (these are Blake stiched) and may not last as long. But one cannot help but indulge in some flair as you only live once. So who cares if it does not last 285 years or so. It will look stunning for at least 15 years which is quite a decent time for a pair of shoes, like this pair of Bruno Magli monkstraps that are a part of a larger, non-weekly shoe rotation lineup of mine. 

In fact they could last another decade or so. One can never have too many shoes.

Servicing One's Watches -Featuring an Omega Speedmaster Day-Date

There comes a stage in owning an automatic watch that most never seem to take into account – Servicing the darn thing. The Omega Speedmaster Automatic Day-Date which you see in the photo above belonged to my late father. He bought it sometime in the mid-1990s and has gone through at least two rounds of servicing before it was handed to me.

It wasn't in good nick when I first got hold of it. The pusher button at 11 o'clock could work, and the 24 hour sub-dial wasn't in synch. I somehow believe that the movement in this Omega Speedmaster Day-Date is a little sensitive and fragile as it seemed to get out of whack quite easily. So I decided to send it for a full service at the local Swatch Group service center recently. For those that aren't in the know, the Swatch Group basically owns the Omega brand together with brands like Tissot, Longines, Blancpain etc.

Anyway, all the hands were changed as were some other bits and bobs which I do not really care as long as the thing works properly. The thing is that servicing the Speedmaster isn't exactly cheap (if you choose the official service center and not an independent party). In Kuala Lumpur, you will get charged somewhere in the region of RM1,900.00.

The irony is that when my father bought the watch, it only cost RM3,000 after discount. The watch is still on sale and is now listed at around RM10,000 or thereabouts (but is now chronometer rated). No wonder servicing costs so much.

It also goes to show that once you purchase your Swiss horological device, you should treasure it as inflation will kill you if you want to buy a new one. That is IF servicing the darn thing wouldn't do that do you in the first place. 

On a similar note, the Omega Seamaster 300 in an earlier post is also in for a service, but that one is going to Switzerland as the service center does not have the expertise to do it locally. Sigh. It seems Omega automatics will run for about nearly a decade or so before it gets gummed up.

Oh yeah, you do get a nice Omega leatherette travel case with the full service.  

Some Colour to Brighten Up Work Attire

A friend took this photo of the lower part of my ensemble recently. He was slightly taken aback by the many colours I had on me. My dress shirt was a mid-blue shade, grey slacks, green socks, and chocolate brown shoes with blue shoelaces.

The shoes are branded Andrea Cammelli, Firenze. These are 6 year old pair of cheap Italian shoes - thin glove-like leather which the Italians seem to like putting on their cheaper shoes (but extremely comfortable from the start as you don't need to 'run them in', slightly shoddy stitching, stuck on sole that I've added thin Vibram rubber soles and a Vibram re-heel. These were  bought from CK Tangs during its first sale (when it first re-opened in Malaysia some years ago) for an incredible RM150.00. Tangs are one of those stores that stock Italian shoes, usually from those smaller shoe makers that Italy has thousands of. Sometimes, gems could be found even if they are not the usual brands most of us hear of.

The choice of green socks made me seem a little Irish (whereas I am as Asian as most of the people in this parts of Kuala Lumpur) as I reminded him of a Leprechaun. Don't mind actually as Leprechauns have a pot of gold lying somewhere around. Actually the only thing Irish around my office would be Guinness Stout sold in nearby shops.

Anyway, I suppose it IS a little distracting if you work in a total business environment and everything is all protocol and what-not. But I work in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur where things are a little less formal and I dress to please myself. So expect purple, orange, red, maroon, green, blue coloured socks and a lot of patina in my shoes. And shoelaces of various colours too!

A Post After A Long Hiatus - Santoni FAMs Double Monk Strap Shoes

It has been a long time since I posted anything in here. I have been a little occupied with lots of things and blogging  wasn't one of them. Anyway, I do believe that some shoe pornography is in order to start things off again.

But before the pictures start flowing in again I have to say that most Malaysian men are oblivious when it comes to having a proper pair of shoes on their feet. I see most of them with ten thousand Rnggit watches (or more) but the cheapest looking three hundred ringgit loafers that actually do not go well with their fancy double cuff dress shirts and silk ties. Once I was at a cafe at the Suria KLCC and out of the hundreds of men that passed by, only one chap had a decent (and it was not even great) pair of shoes.

Let me say that your ten thousand Ringgit watch MUST be complemented by a great pair of shoes in order for you to be a complete package. Aristotle Onassis once said that " If you want to know the measure of a man look at the shoes he wears".

One has a choice of using either Italian made or English made shoes for the best. I prefer Italian as they are lighter, daintier and cut a slimmer profile most of the time. The shoes are more cutting edge, or fashion forward but sometimes when cut in the normal styles, utterly sublime - like this pair of Santoni FAM (Fatte A Mano) double monkstraps pictured below. It may not be bespoke or a custom made pair, but as Ready to Wear goes, the finishing/ antiquing is stunning.

- Don't you just love the fit to size (mine's a size 9 - in Santoni sizing) and exact shape of the shoe, shoe tree?

Note: Santoni shoes can be found at the Parkson departmental stores at Suria KLCC and at the Pavillion Shopping Center in Kuala Lumpur. They used to be sold at Isetan KLCC but after a hiatus, the brand is back, together with Church's shoes (both have the same importer here in Malaysia). And I am glad they're back.