French bespoke shoemaker, Stephane Jimenez, makes some of the most striking shoes you will see. A lot of what he does are oxfords. Not sure if this is his specialty, personal liking, or simply what his clients prefer but it is what most fills his Instagram page. And there are many cool models with some very striking lines, some quite aggressive, but in a good way. Some details are more subtle, but subtlety is certainly not his thing. After years of making exquisite shoes, it would appear that one oxford is the reigning champ of the rest. I say that as it is the most posted pair as of late, which means he either loves making new samples of them or clients are ordering them more and more, which is most likely the case as most bespoke makers do not have samples of the same shoe in 5 different colorways.
There are many subtle details in this shoe and I love the blend of robust Norwegian construction with sharp lines and ultimately a dressy look. It is the sharpest Norwegian welted shoe I have seen. Clearly, it is not a triple Norwegian rope, but rather looks like only double which allows it to be a bit more subtle and maintain that razor-sharp look, that Jimenez is known for. I can only imagine seeing this done in more and more colorways and hopefully with multiple materials. I would love to see a calf/suede combo. Let’s hope that someone commission one soon!
Find out more about Stephane here: https://www.instagram.com/stephanejimenezbottier/?hl=en
Very nice.