Green and cream brogue spectators from Sydney Vintage

Every so often you find a pair of brogues that is a cut above the regular brogue and blinds you with it's brogue-ness. This brogue is one of those, with the cream and green colour combo and wedge heel it's a cut above your regular brogue. It's also got contrast topstitching which is just like the icing on the brogue cake and you can buy it from Sydney's Vintage Clothing for $79.99. I would so buy them if they came in my size!

Office retro 70's style brogues

The large holes and tan brown make these brogues look like '70s dead stock, but the heel gives a bit a nod to the '50s. Brown and black seem to be cropping up more and more as a cool colour combo, so team these with opaques when it gets colder. For warmer weather wear with lashings of white for a very English summer look. Course its got heels, so only for the hardcore brogue lovers or those with botox injections in their heels.

Solea brogues at Kurt Geiger

I love Solea, they make the most gorgeous shoes, and now they're doing brogues I love em even more. The mustard and black brogues are chic and plain, and they've got a jazzy black, silver and grey pair. They also come in high-heeled versions so we're spoilt for choice, thank you Solea!

York second hand brogue

These beauties not only have brogue detailing with a spine-tingling (do I sound like a pervert? I'm running out of adjectives here!) suede/patent combo, but they also come with the brogue icing on the cake, a kiltie fastened with a teeny buckle. Man if those shoes weren't a size 4 or whatever they were I would have snapped them up so fast, despite contravening the no painful heel rule. Darn etc...

Coin-op band member handmade brogue

This is still from Duncan's night, a member of one of the bands, Coin-op, was wearing some really special brogues. They were apparently handmade for a man who had one leg longer than the other which is a really nice story. I like the navy and cream combo, very smart.

Vaughan's battered trad brogues

If you look carefully you can see he has Imperial Leather written on his left leg, I can only assume alcohol was to blame. The brogues are lovely traditional brown shoes with slightly larger punch holes, and they need a good polish, perhaps even resoling. Anyway a great brogue specimen, I just hope Vaughan's had a bath since then.

Duncan's Irregular Choice brogues

When my friend Duncan put a music night on recently it was a veritable brogue-fest. I was, disappointingly, wearing canvas pumps. At least it was a good night, so if you're in the Brighton area have a look at the live nights on his MySpace. The brogues are fantastic noveau brogues, with crazy spinning punch holes and are magically set off by the fancy starry socks. Splendid!

Office Beatrix mary jane reduced to £20

I love these shoes, they're so grannyish and childish and I know I'd only end up wearing them really frumpily but I like em. I've been watching them since Christmas and now they're reduced to £20 so if you love hospital green half as much as me go and buy them.

eBay purple brogue boot

God bless Canadians, for it is Canada that these boots come from. You can get your hands on them for approx £5 starting auction price which is well cheap. You don't get brogue detailing, purple suede, paisley appliqué and flippin snake effect heels for 5 quid in this country. God Bless Canada!

Ortho-brogs from Schuh

Woo! Check out these brogues! Halfway between a sexy lady brogue and an orthopaedic shoe I have kind fallen in love with these brogues. For sure I think my personality is halfway between a sexy lady and an orthopaedic... shoe. Anyway they also come in black which looks slighty more cowgirl-noir and you can buy them from Schuh for £49.99.

Tribeca posh brogs

Tribeca, the posh shop in Brighton, has always intimidated me to the point where I look, but I've never been in. So when Sam cane to Brighton what did we do? Go in, pick up these beautiful brogs and take a pic. I was really scared but fearless Sam knows no limits in the quest for brogs. They cost £89...blimes!

Bum Bum

I realize that this is over a month old now but a late post is better than none at all, especially when the post involve pics of Iso dressing up as a "booty ferapist".
We spent a wonderful Saturday in December at the Old Ship Pub in Shadwell (well its actually a beautiful squat) and the home of bum bum train. The night ended up being:
a) a hot bed of brog action
b) full of really cool london/brightoners
c) the last time i got so recked i lost my memory
d) the first time i have seen iso in track suit bottoms

And so in reverse order here is the pictorial evidence
Iso was "acting" as a chavy beauty therapist but i know she has more products than boots, so i think it was actually jim fixing for her. Looking pretty sweet if you ask me
DO
combine classy parisian features and grace with english dirty pikey clothes and hair!

It was such a beautiful place.

These brogs were hand made in India to fit her feet perfectly, she said they were comfier than bare feet. I'm so jel it hurts!



These were a north london charity shop find, bought for £3.50
A proper BARGIN BROGUE that manages to combine the two tone with a a great shape which is an unusual combo as they usually end up looking like a rockabilly brog (see previous post.
By the time I took this picture I think I just shouted something like
"I wanna take picture of your shoe, cause theys prettyyyy"

The cervix bites back

Fuck The Obligatory Talk Of Resolutions and Happy New Yeeeesssss!

Now as I remember, the indie kid was born from the bitter juices of Jarvis and Louise Wener
standing up for themselves against dirty pikeys who would spit on them at school for not owning a kappa tracksuit and yeah this is a good thing even if it did result in the likes of these.

http://www.gawker.com/news/blue-states-lose/blue-states-lose-the-new-class-204238.php

However the indie kid grew up, became a graph' des', moved to old street and started drinking in cafe kick (livin the dream). These perfectly acceptable twenty somethings, many of whom i call friends (and not in the "they can get me freelance work so i hangout in the same bars and looked up their surnames on google sense of the word friends") are turning back into the pikeys that once tormented them at school. The moron leading this old street backlash is MAN LIKE ME (a band name that screams "It scares me that my parents might find out I'm gay if I dress like an indie boy"). They sing, well thats a bit strong, they vomit lyrics about pie n mash, drinking and birds yeeeeahhhh geezzzzz. The cervix can tell that they are just a poncey north london indie boys who have shaved their heads, put on a cockney accent and are being a gob shites!

This horrid trend is sweeping the nation faster than the Horrors Fringes, dressing like a Chav!

Will the next brand of fashionistas be spawned from the venomous juices of Lily Allen and Mike Skinner, I fucking hope not. It means going to trash will be like going to a school reunion at my local comp, I might as well go and flush my head down the loo now.

Love the cervix

(the cervix loves you)

x

Le Christmas Message

If I had a spare 95 pound, I would deffo spend it on French Sole's brogue ballet pumps. I can imagine wearing them with white jeans and a cardigan with gold anchor buttons casually slung round my shoulders for a true living end look. I would probably caj them up by wearing them with a neutral skirt, white tee and a trenchcoat to look all fresh and springtime. But that ain't gonna happen, because its bloody freezing and I don't have any money.

Hey I Remembered All Three Componants Needed To take A Picture

Its been along time coming but we have finally found brogues on the street.
In fact they are everywhere, well everywhere i am but sans camera or battery in my camera or mezza cazza (memory card) in in my camera. Like the night I went to see eighties matchbox at Proud Galleries Camden i must have seen about 7 pairs which i could only take mental photographs of and those mental picture don't upload very well on the firefox browser so you will just have to take my word for it.

I have just bought some Keds from Schuh for a whooping £25 I know they are usually about $10 in USA but when all you want is a plain pump to drawing a brogue design on then they really are the only option. Ill be posting step by step photos of my kedbrog Christmas project soon!! bet you cant wait.

BrogBand

i can't believe i didn't know sooner but there is an Irish band of old called Brogue and heres the album cover to prove it

umm men with good taste
and the one on the left is actually jesus!

Back To Our Roots

Iso and I realised that since the world as we know it ended aka Isos camera broke and I became freelance neither of us have been out on the street finding the unique quirky and all round amazing brogues that we found at the beginning of the year. We are now making a “note to self” to get hunting in clubs, on the tube, at private views (a great fembrog haunt) and in the office to find those real brogues as worn by cool people, we might even have some interviews ohhhh yeah check us !!

Lessons in Fembrog

We don't know how lucky we are to have the UK high street, the amount of choice is staggering. Sure there are bad points, prices seem to have gone up and there's always the question of ethical labour; but on the whole compared other countries, esp the US us brits have got it good. So given all the choice I have decided to give a fembrog high street round-up, starting with Faith. I'm sorry to start on a negative note, but the shoe below, 'Celina', is a monstrosity, cover ye eyes wenches! Note the spike heel; fembrog wearers have no need for spike heels as they never get into fights or need to vamp it up down their local JD Sports Wetherspoons. I quite like the 'Carlin', bit office-wear but getting warmer. I really like this preppy brog, despite the heel 'Cai' is good looking, its a bit retro, a bit laydee, and has a dash of 80's Wall Street. Another contender is the 'Acapella', a flat suede pump which also comes in pink, kinda cutesy for me but I still like them.

My favourite from Faith, even though they are pretty OTT, are the Ajazzaday brogs. Insanity and frivolity are two of the best things about being a woman, and Faith have combined these qualities in a shoe. This probably the first time ever gold and silver styles of a shoe have been the toned down versions.... I love em!

Non-Brog Alert

I know these shoes aren't brogues, and they're heels, but they're so bookish, and called Wuthering Hights! Marvellous.

Office Brogs

Office have revamped their website, adding loads more shoes, wahey! So I thought I'd bring you some brog offerings to appease the brogblog gods for not updating...
I like the Angus flats, they're cute, cool and not too girly. Like the name suggests, I can see them worn with tartan and accesorised with a headbutt.. See you Jimmy!
I also like the salt-of-the-earth true fembrogs, they mean business and they are the bizzo
I really like the way Office's mid-heels really are mid-heels, aka ones that I could wear, none of this 'oh they're only 3 inches, I love heels don't you??' rubbish.

The Brogues Are Alright!

I quite like the third one down in the horrors of irregular choice post!
I just think they look the right side of kooky, and the fake tortoiseshell bits are neat.
Before Sam conjures up a plan to kill me, like giving the Friend's charity shop in Kemptown a refurb (this would break my brittle heart into a bajillion pieces), I shall retreat to my hollow, sans internet world.

...And These

Don’t ever listen to me again, these are beauts and really similar to a pair Iso and I spotted in New York about a year ago, only these irregular choice brogs are easy to get hold of, well easier than 4 months off work and 3,000 spare English pounds to wonder around the lower east side drinking soya lattes and looking at hipsteres shoes (I mean furthering our careers with stimulating internships haha.. eerghhh).

But Before You Burn Down Irregular Choice Get These …

Ok I am a hypocrite, first I slag off irregular choice now I want a pair of their shoes.

There is a pretty little black brog that is understated and would look amazon with black jeans. So if anyone feels like throwing away £57 don’t, buy me these instead.

Now you may carry on with your plans to chop of the hands of irregular choices design department.

Burn Down Irregular Choice for Crimes against Fashion

In the quest to be ahead of the fashion flock we all sometimes make the odd mistake, I still cry when I think of the florescent orange mini skirt (with a zip up the front) I bought (and wore) out in '99 what the fuck was I thinking, maybe I was going for that ironic hooker chic or maybe I was just plain WRONG, much like IRREGULAR CHOICE they have somehow managed to commit some of the worst crimes against footwear and still charge nearly a tonne for their vile wares.

I first caught a sight of this make in Chiswick (not the most fashionable area of London, I admit). I tried on a pair of supposed size 7 stripy gold and black jester-esque boots, but at 80 squids I left these tiny pretties for someone else. The next day I find myself in Hammersmith’s TK Maxx (cause I frequent only go to the trendiest/ hippest shops in London) and saw the most ugly fembrogs in the world, how could this be possible, I have never uttered those two words in the same sentence before. I wanted to rip my eyeballs out/ rock in the shower scrubbing away the ghastly sight. I only had my crappy nokia to document this brog nightmare but the pics do not do them justice, so I will endeavour to describe them to you

1^st as wide as two hands put together side by side

2^nd turned up at the toe so much I could fit 4 fingers between the floor and the front of the sole

3^rd they were tope and tan, yuk yuk yuk,

4^th they had a massive great big fraying cord bow (for ornamental purposes)

and 5^th they were the same shape as a sponge you wash cars with, umm flattering, they would really make a calf look as long and slender as a pointy stiletto, or not.

So today I decided to find these brogs on the Irregular Choice website and couldn’t, instead I found more pairs of even more ugly fembrogs. Words now fail me, just look slash gawp slash exfoliate your eye sockets.

sam

We salute you

Another non-brog related post, but take a look at this special lady. I saw her riding in Worthing this morning and then she got off so I caught up with her and took her pic, doesn't she look lovely? She told me that she rides her bike everyday into town and she's 86, how much does she rock my world?



I think the bag tops off the whole look.