Vintage Edward Green: The Collection (Part I)

Anyone who's made a habit of dropping by An Uptown Dandy has probably figured out by now that I love vintage shoes. Vintage brown shoes, to be exact. Edward Green shoes can be interesting to collect for several reasons. In many cases, Edward Green used to provide shoes for a wide range of companies, from Cole Haan to Barneys to B. Altman to Nordstrom. Much of the fun is often in discerning whether what you've come across is a hidden gem in need of a little TLC (i.e. stripping away layers of old polish, a good cleaning, some leather conditioner, etc.) 

Another group photo, sans flash.

Lately, I've been fortunate to come across some interesting vintage Edward Green shoes in remarkable condition, ranging from lightly scuffed uppers to barely-worn soles. One of the things that becomes clear is that, while Edward Green has made significant improvements in areas such as the leather finishing process- you would be hard-pressed to find a pair of Edward Greens pre-dating 1990 with the kind of patina that you see on some of the company's more recent offerings - an older shoe doesn't necessarily mean an inferior one. 

The same photo as the one directly above, with the flash in use.

Another added advantage is that, in come cases, the shoes were made in the mid-eighties on a now-defunct last, or a last that was made for that particular retailer/distributor. Generally, those lasts will still be available via Edward Green's Made To Order program, but will be unavailable on newer Ready-To-Wear models.

My original plan was to get the new acquisitions together in one setting for some group shots. Unfortunately, the round table in the picture above was too small to accommodate the entire collection, so what we see here is a sub-set of vintage Edward Green shoes, with probably each pair (save for the butterfly loafers) pre-dating 1986. The pairs in this particular collection were originally ordered from Edward Green by one if its retail partners, including Cole Haan, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, Paul Stuart, and New & Lingwood.

I'll be individually spotlighting some of my additions in the weeks and months ahead. I hope you enjoy.