Old Man Shoe

The Rolling Stones once sung “You Can’t always get what you want” which I tend to agree with, except you probably should when you pay for something. You definitely should when you ask someone to copy something, give them a picture to work off and they say they can do it.

I recently took a trip to Bali and Malaysia. It was a brilliant trip and loved both countries, but more to come on that later. Having been to Bali a few times I had some things tailored and made before and read up on a leather tailor that was supposed to be pretty good at copying shoes. I took my pictures of a few pairs of topman shoes in and was assured no problems, they could copy them exactly.

The exact picture of the Topman shoes I took in to get copied

I went away filled with excitement at the prospect of several new pairs of dapper shoes (tan brogues, black round toe gibsons and black desert boots to be exact – one may as well get one’s moneys worth) coming back a few nights later to pick my new wheels up. 

Now I’m not saying my grandpa wouldn’t wear the shoes that were in front of me (quite the contrary as these were old man shoes) but they’d definitely be his last resort.

As my girlfriend tried to soothe me and explain that you can’t always expect things to work out (FYI girlfriends and partners, thanks, but this doesn’t help) I tried the shoes on and explained that they we’re a little (read: COMPLETELY) different from the picture I’d given them (which had miraculously disappeared). The shoemaker said he’d try fix the issues and I could pick them up in the morning.

Exhibit A: Old Man Shoe

  

Take 2

The diagnosis for my poor daggy shoes looked grim. It was terminal. Old Man Shoe. No One recovers from Old Man Shoe. Until now.

Gone was the boxy, tall, hardened square brogues I’d left behind the previous night. In their place, a, pair of slim, low profile, well crafted shoes that looked FINE! Suffice to say I thanked the shoemaker profusely and we were on our way.

The brogues were rocked in the office for the first time the other day and should hopefully be around a long time. So you can’t always get what you want, but a little bit of patience and faith, and you’ll get what you need (which if you’re lucky is what you wanted anyway).

The finished product

Love the detail

I'm somewhat smitten now... can you tell?

Dolphin Leather. Jl Sahadewa, (between Jl.Melasti and Jl. Padma) Legian, Bali