You have a serious problem: your feet don’t want to go outside anymore! After months of confinement spent naked on the Persian carpet, it is understandable that they look at your laced shoes with disdain.
By Raphaël Sagodira
To get your feet to accept the outside world, there might be only one alternative: moccasins. These are laceless, low-cut shoes with a “U” shaped top seam. Lately, the moccasins have the wind in their sails: it is no longer necessary to be elected BCBG of the year in Versailles to have some. This success is due to their comfort and adaptability. You can wear loafers with a suit, chino or jeans.
But do not let this apparent simplicity fool you. It’s a real field mined : there are many styles of moccasins. Badly chosen, moccasins make a clumsy foot and give a dejected gait. It is this style of villains moccasins that most populate our cities: in the image of their owner, they are usually old, grey, creaky shoes and a little wide. Let’s avoid this pitfall and instead review all your options.
The first style, the moccasin with a tongue and tray seam, is the best known. This form comes from the mists of time, from the first civilizations of North America: the Alconquins of Quebec. In the 30s, Canadians and Americans adopted them thanks to Nils Gregoriusson Tveranger. He invents a shoe that borrows Amerindian elements that he mixes with traditional shoes from Norway, the country from which he comes. This results in the tongue and tray seam shape. This model is first the specialty of the shoe maker Bass, under the name of Wejuuns – to better sound northern European. You didn’t know this name? The fault of the WASPS students of the Ivy League who wore them massively after the war and renamed them “Penny Loafer“: they slipped pennies into the tongue of the moccasins, to keep the change of the phone booths!
80’s
Very In fashion in the eighties, the end of the line was Weston’s: was the 180. In 1985, the round, wide, “crocodile” 180s were all the rage. With a suit grey crossbred in “shark skin” color, it was the ideal outfit permanent businessmen with long teeth… A whole era! From our days, this model gives the deliciously old-fashioned look of a man in early retirement.
Second alternative: tassel loafers. They are generally burgundy, round, wide, thick, without tongue but with tassels braided. The most famous model? The Alden shoes It is done in horse leather, the cordovan. Ideal for weekends, it is the most popular moccasin more fashionable nowadays. Your Brittany spaniel loves to chew on them tassels.
The baroque genre at the feet
The third alternative, which appeared in the 1950s, but especially in the seventies and eighties. This model is free of tongue, without tassels or tray seam. Mounted on a thin sole, it is rather pointed and is decorated with two horse bits in reduction, gilded or silver: it is the moccasin of Gucci. It gives a baroque style to the feet. Nowadays, this form is exclusively worn by people who are very distinguished: those who invite you to dinner to show you their expensive apartment and explain to you in percentages the of their annual increase, before serving you a half aperitif tepid.
The latest evolution: it is the most evolved form of loafers, which appeared in the early 2000s. It is the Lupin of the bootmaker Aubercy. Sharp, with an eagle tip, the Lupin is a very versatile moccasin. dressed. Thus, it leaves the register of casual shoes. It is the only one moccasin that can be worn with a city suit without looking like a nerd. The Lupin is a moccasin whose tongue is shaped like a mask; it is accompanied by a hand-sewn tray seam, which draws almost the little satisfied smile of a playboy leaning at the bar. This is not the moccasin of the men who go home for dinner.
