Wingtip brogues and oxfords have been gracing the feet of many retro fashionista for quite some time now. And with the retro style being so in nowadays, I figured I’d write a bit about the classic wingtip brogue shoe.
This is obviously quite a masculine style and these Airseal brogues from Vegetarian Shoes come in some men’s sizes too (and apparently run large for almost one size so could actually fit some reasonably big blokes). They clearly resemble Doc Martens and Grinders but are 100% vegan and come from a UK-based, ethical company. Vegetarian shoes make shoes that last and in my experience they are generally very comfortable too. Not cheap, but at least you get your money’s worth.
These are available from Vegetarian Shoes. They also come in an all-black version.
In the USA, you may be able to get them from Moo shoes, though I think they only carry the black version.
These women’s brogues are by Dirty Laundry and come in a range of colours and vegan materials, including brown and all-black in patent, waxed (matte) and even fabric.
They don’t look quite as classic or as sturdy as the Veggie shoes ones, but are slightly more girlie.
They are available from Dirty Laundry.
This somewhat battered pair of Melissa Shoes Joy Brogues is my own personal pair (seen here with matching cat) that I’ve been wearing all the time for well over a year. As you can see, they’re not quite as glorious as when they were new (here’s what they look like new), but are still quite striking, very feminine and people keep thinking they are proper tap or swing shoes and rarely notice they are made of plastic. I get compliments every time I wear these. They’re super comfortable instantly, but run a size small like all Melissa shoes I’ve tried.
The only place you can still get these in black and white is eBay on occasion (and maybe some random shops in far away places still have them), but the Melissa brogues come in a load of colours and combinations and new colours come out every season, so you can probably find some variation on this theme somewhere. Current season hits include some “flock” (velvet-like plastic material) numbers as well as an all-black Swarovski crystal-decked specimen for the small price of about 200 quid. Past collections included all-pink, gold and metallic purple.