An Italian Take On An American Classic - The Blue Suede Shoe from Kiton

As the story goes, Carl Perkins was on stage one night when a scuffle broke out near the stage. In the middle of the ruckus, Perkins heard someone yell out, "Uh-uh, don't you step on my suedes!" When he looked down at the fellow, Perkins saw that the guy had on a pair of blue suede shoes. The line stuck with him, and in 1955 he wrote the song "Blue Suede Shoes." A rock and roll standard, it was eventually recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly to Bill Haley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Menswear isn't terribly different than the rest of the world, which is to say that the more things change, the more things stay the same. If blue suede shoes were all the rage in 1955, it looks like they're still going strong. Of course, the pair on display at Graceland are captoe brogues, but when I happened to come across a pair of tasseled loafers at the Kiton sale, I was intrigued. I've been looking for a new pair of casual loafers for a while now, but nothing had really jumped out at me. In this case, I thought the blue suede would be a nice change of pace and could work well with khakis or denim.

The shoes have some nice details - the leather uppers are unlined, and I really like the contrast between the navy suede and the natural sole edge. Kiton shoes are well made, but probably a bit beyond my comfort level at the suggested retail price. This unlined blue suede loafer would normally fall into that category for me, but at 85% off the retail price, I thought it was worth a shot. Upon initial wearings (in the house), I've found the shoes to be incredibly comfortable, and the EU 9 fits like a glove.

The photos taken without a flash are probably a better representation of the actual navy color. It is much darker than the photos with flash would indicate. I used the flash to provide more detail as to the workmanship, but I've included the images without the flash for what I believe is a more accurate representation of the suede color.

I'm looking forward to joining the legions of Americans, both past and present, who have boldly pronounced at one time or another, "Don't scuff the suedes."