Monday, October 25

epiphany -shoe shine

Had a fun time yday at the vintage goodness that was the TopShelfFlea (N'EastStyle took photos, including the above). Tough at these events as the enlightened enthusiast customers often have a lot of what is on offer already, but as prices were rock bottom you could always pick up a few ties or a crewneck wool sweater [yup -ed.]. Sidenote; great chats w/ people including several discussions on tartans, ties and Sherlock Holmes (the modern BBC version had its US premier last night y'know) -Guiseppe was the sounding board for tailoring advice.

The epiphany for me though was getting a shoe shine. Any reasonable person can shine their own shoes and should... but having them shined is like a reflexology-mini-vacation. Never expected that.

Nick (brother of 'Flea organizer Guiseppe) had been a shoeshine 'boy' right after high school and would visit the financial district offices that made up his patch. V cool to see someone so into it. Some war stories as well (power tripping ladies w/ knee high boots etc... good stuff). "First mahog' of the day." he shouted, haha. Toothbrush round the edges, spray bottle for the spit shine. Snap the rag. Photo below does not do them justice, but these brogues never looked better.