From Velcro to Chisel-Toe

Never count DSW out... found these awesome NEW shoes there!
Photo courtesy of Carrie Swing at http://carriedawaywithvintagegourmet.blogspot.com/.

Okay, enough with old memories... let's bring this blog back to what I wanted to focus on in the first place: clothes! Specifically, let's talk about shoes. Mod shoes... starting with an old memory.

When I was MUCH younger, all I needed in a pair of shoes were some good ol' Velco straps. I was a no muss, no fuss kinda kid... toss a pair of shoes on, velcro them up, and off to play with my buddies. That changed in the 7th grade. As the idea of 'cool' was becoming painfully apparent to me, my parents kindly bit the big one and invested in a pair of white, round-toed Reeboks for me. Of course, by the time I got them, the shoe trend had moved on to British Knights (BKs).

Yes, I admit it. I once wore shoes this ugly.

That Halloween, my buddy Robert showed up in a kind of costume: white t-shirt, spiked hair, and green make-up. He was a 'crazy person,' if I remember correctly. What really caught my eye, though, were the shoes he was wearing: his older brother's grey and black, pointed Na-Na creepers. I thought these things were the coolest shoes EVER. He then told me that you could buy shoes like these at a magical place called Melrose. (Of course, I thought he was talking about an actual store.) Unfortunately, however, I had to live out the rest of my 7th grade life in those Reebok tennis shoes. 7th grade... the last time I ever wore tennis shoes again as a daily part of my wardrobe.

I started the 8th grade out in a type of grey casual shoe that I saw the Filipino dudes at my school wear. Nothing special, but I thought they were pretty 'hip' since they weren't tennis shoes. But they were nowhere near as hip as my birthday gift that year: a pair of black and white, pointed Na-Na creepers with a buckle and the stitching on top! Sure, I had to endure an entire day of getting picked on the first time I wore them out, but hey! Isn't that what being 'different' and 'anti-society' was all about back then? (And yes, that day was going absolutely miserable until my skater/new wave friends started complimenting the shoes!)

Can't tell you how many times I heard kids yell out, "Hey Frankenstein!" (Ironically enough, creepers were "in" the following year.)

My next big shoe purchase was a gift for 'graduating' from the 8th grade: a pair of Dr. Martens! I can't remember how I had heard of these, but I do remember them being a big deal to have if you were on the 'new wave/punk' tip. So, I picked out a great lace-up pair in black leather with a pointed toe and stitching along the top, exactly like my creepers but without the 2-inch sole. I felt like I had finally hit 'ultra-cool' status, what with being the first kid in my 'clique' with Dr. Martens and all. Unfortunately, these came at the end of my junior high life.

I dug these shoes so much that I wore them from the ending of the 8th grade up to my first year in college!  And hey, these shoes were for sale a year ago... and they were considered 'vintage!'

I was sold on Dr. Martens after these and ended up buying 2 more pairs at a Na-Na sale in Santa Monica right before 9th grade started: one gray lace-up pair with a pointed toe, and a second pair with a pointed toe and buckle, in marble blue leather. Unfortunately, these shoes were pretty large for my still growing (but not by much) feet. Still, I wore them around school and didn't care what people thought. Not so sadly, these were the last pairs of Docs I ever got, never veering into boot territory, because after this, I was on the hunt for 'Mod' shoes!

And by Mod shoes, I mean loafers. And by loafers, I don't mean Bass Weejuns, but rather whatever penny loafers I could find at the Buster Brown shoe store in the local Puente Hills Mall. Man, I can't tell you how cool I thought I looked in those penny loafers, along with white socks, high-water tapered Dickies pants, and burgundy flight jacket with ska/mod pins! Shortly afterward, I moved on to a slicker form of shoe... the kind meant for suit-wearin': wing-tipped tassle loafers! Oh man... rude girls, prepare to swoon! (No, no swooning was ever done.)

Then I moved to the Bay Area and it was here that I really fell in love with shoe wear... actual Mod shoe wear. Aww... I still remember it like it was yesterday. I found my first pair of 1960s pointed ankle boots on Telegraph Avenue at Wasteland (before it was called Mars Mercantile) and these started an obsession with '60s pointed and chisel-toed shoes that I still have to this day. Sure, I went through bowling shoe and Jam 'stage shoe' phases. Had to get these out of my system, because after this, it was all '60s-styled shoes for me!

Back in college, I almost passed by one of my now favorite pairs of shoes: a total suede and leather Carnaby Street number. A buddy and I were in Mars Mercantile one day and he was kind enough to point out this pair of shoes in the women's section. I dismissed them without even looking until he brought them out. So glad he did because $10 later, I had these:

Sigh... unfortunately, when you get cool shoes you can either store them away for safekeeping or... wear them. As you can tell, I've worn these.

Then came the Bay Area Vintage Shoe Glory Days! One day, around 8-9 years ago (yikes!), a bunch of us were spending our happy hour at the Casanova Lounge in San Francisco. My pal, Jason Ringgold, and I decided to take a break and walk up to Clothes Contact where you could buy clothes by the pound. We were surprised to find a beat-up pair of absolute cool sixties Mod shoes. They were relatively plain but with a nice chisel-toe (imagine a pointed shoe with the tip of the shoe cut off). After snatching them up, we found out that the owner of these vintage shops had come across a warehouse in Germany with dead-stock '60s men's shoes! For the next several years, we were finding a pair here, a pair there... it was absolute shoe heaven for us! My personal shoe collection grew with the following:

Ya can't beat leather and suede combos!

Love the detailing on the sides.

My Small Faces shoes... but these were hand-me-downs from Mike Therieau, not a part of the German warehouse stock.

Soon, us Bay Area Mod dudes were classin' up sidewalks all over town! Eventually, this surplus dried out, but every once in a while, you can still find a pair from this old stock. In fact, about a month ago, I found these:

Suede and leather again... SH-BAMM!

I'm still totally obsessed with 1960s-style pointed-toe and chisel-toe shoes. I'm not as into the winkle-picker points as I used to be and I'm still not into heavy boots of any kind (i.e., Dr. Marten boots, monkey boots, etc.) or desert boots, as I've discussed before. No, I like my shoes narrow, with some cool detailing, a nice toe, and all-around slick!

Now, allow me to get a formality out of the way: Mod shoes. Mod shoes. Mod shoes. Mod shoes. (There. Now when people from the future do on-line searches for 'Mod shoes,' hopefully they'll be pointed here instead of some company selling bunk bowling shoes.) Mod shoes.

QUESTION: If you have a moment, please leave a comment describing your favorite pair of shoes. And this isn't just for the male Mods in the audience. Or Mods, for that matter. Just in general, what's your favorite shoe?