Re: RARA-AVIS: A Fashion Question

ejm duggan (ejmd@mcmail.com)
Sat, 19 Sep 1998 12:44:31 -0700 On Fri, 18 Sep 1998, William Denton <buff@vex.net> wrote:

[SNIP]
> What I call brogues are, I think, also known as wingtips. Lace-ups,
> often with a thick sole, and with the little pinprick patterns in the
> leather up around the toes.
[SNIP]
> Aha. My 10th edition Merriam Webster's College Edition says, "1: a
> stout coarse shoe worn formerly in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands
> 2: a heavy shoe often with a hobnailed sole: BROGAN 3: a stout oxford
> shoe with perforations and usu. a wing tip"

Perhaps there are national variations in naming shoes?

My understanding of brogues (I admit to having a couple hanging around
somewhere) is that the essential aspect is the patterning made of small
holes punched into the leather.
There are at least two variations, known as a 'half brogue' and a 'full
brogue'. I would hazard a guess that on the half brogue the patterning
is restricted to the front upper, while a full brogue extends the
pattern to the back and sides of the shoe.

I've only ever seen these in lace-ups, but I'm not sure whether the
thickness of the sole is a defining aspect.

An oxford is, I believe, a plain lace-up shoe. I'm not sure if the
oxford has or does not have a seperate toe cap (maybe this feature makes
an oxford a gibson?)

Maybe there's a shoe site somewhere that deals with something other than
fetish-gear?

<http://www.clarks.co.uk>?
<http://www.shelleys.co.uk>?
<http://www.freemanhardywillis.co.uk>?

ED

-- 
+-----------------------------------------------+
|   <http://www.ejmd.mcmail.com>     |
|                       |

# # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.