Masayuki Kaneko is the king of making beautiful black shoes. It only dawned on me today despite having it clearly been in my subconscious for a long time. Black shoes are classic, but let’s be honest, sometimes they can be quite boring. A full brogue black shoe is nothing more than that. But Masayuki has this ability to make his lines so intentionally sharp and sometimes fluidly aggressive in a manner unlike anything else I have seen.
For example, his V-cap toe is not just an angular V-cap. It has a curvature to it that separates it from the rest and in my humble opinion, makes it look way cooler. In fact, his version of a V-cap is my favorite of all of the V-caps. It’s lines are perfect and elegantly aggressive. Have you ever heard those words put together before? I doubt it. But for me, it almost sums up his style: Elegantly aggressive. And it is a positive, for me at least.
My favorite detail on Masayuki Kaneko’s black shoes is the brogued double vamp line, as you see in his button shoe and his lazyman, which is also among my favorite renditions on the market. In fact, I can rave on and on about his models and how elegant they are, hence the post. He is a great shoemaker, in pattern making, last shapes, and execution of the making. In fact, I don’t understand how he is not more highly regarded in the industry as I look at his work as some of the cleanest there is.
I have never seen a collection of black shoes so good-looking and appealing. Even a regular ol’ semi-brogue, which in reality is just not my thing. But his looks amazing. All of his shoes look amazing. Even the sneakers. And lastly, those ghillies! Those are next-level cool. And for me, Masayuki Kaneko is the King of Black Shoes!
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Website: www.mkshoemaker.com
