Edward Green's Finest - The Windsor for Wildsmith

Hyperbole aside, my unabashed admiration for Edward Green's Windsor has been well-documented. As an unapologetic broguing addict, there are enough perforations on this shoe to keep me happy for years. As an amateur historian, the loss of the "crossed golfclubs/lacrosse sticks" pattern has rendered the Windsor model a museum piece that represents the very best of what Edward Green was capable of during the Hlustik era.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to come across a vintage pair of Windsors in Edward Green's acorn color that were originally produced in 1985 for Nordstrom (you can see the original post here.) While the shoes were in great condition, I thought it would be interesting to see what Edward Green's re-crafting process could do, and so I sent the shoes back to the factory for a cleaning and resoling (you can see images of the re-crafted Windsors here.)

Of course, the great thing about being known as a Windsor enthusiast is that shoe aficionados are gracious enough to keep me in mind when they happen to come across a pair (presumably a pair that doesn't fit their own feet). And so it was that Style Forum member Isshinryu101, a collector and purveyor of vintage shoes, thought immediately of An Uptown Dandy when an absolutely breathtaking pair of Windsors came into his possession.

I know what some of you may be thinking - how many pairs of Windsors can one man have? Well, in my opinion, one can never have enough Windsors. In any event, these two pairs are sufficiently unique so that I won't be losing any sleep over this recent addition to my collection.

While both pairs are on the now defunct 201 last, the re-crafted pair is in acorn and on a narrower width, which gives the shoes a refined appearance quite similar to the 82 last. The more recent pair is also on the 201, but in chestnut antique, and has a "regular" width which really changes the appearance of the shoe substantially.

Made by Edward Green for Wildsmith, I was pleasantly surprised - if not downright astonished - by the almost pristine condition of these Windsors. While the soles showed some minor wear, I'd really be surprised if the shoes had been worn more than once or twice.

Despite the relatively advanced age (probably going on at least 20-25 years old) of these stunning examples of Northampton craftsmanship at its most impressive, the leather uppers have held up quite well. While the burnishing perhaps is not to the same standard that one is used to seeing on more recent models from Edward Green, the tan leather has a wonderful richness of tone and patina that is truly beautiful to behold.