My take on CmcG's buckled ghillie brogues

[Nathan]

So I owe a debt of gratitude to CMcG for adding buckles to his ghillie brogues and probably to OCRichard for first posting the catalogue that demonstrated that there were indeed ghillie brogues sold with detachable buckles in the early 20th Century.

If you want to read Colin's great step by step thread outlining his method, you can click here.

I wanted a pair of buckle shoes for very formal events but I didn't want to purchase bar and buckle brogues. They are very expensive and are a touch too reminiscent of the shoes little girls wear to their first day of school. The nickname "Mary Janes" is appropriate. Now that's not to say that others don't look smart in them and, to be honest, if I got a great deal on a pair I'd probably get over it and wear them. I just mean that I don't like them enough to feel good about dropping over $200 on a pair. I did see a pair with a functional buckle that I liked more but even used they were quite expensive.

I approached the task a little differently than Colin for a couple of reasons.

1) I have two pairs of ghillie brogues so I don't need to switch these back to the non-buckled variety. His method is perfect for switching back and forth.
2) I wanted my buckles closer to the toe than Colin's pair because a) that's how the ones in the catalogue looked and b) that way they would be more similar to bar and buckle brogues and c) I wanted to cover the wrinkle where the shoe flexes as this is a where shoes show their wear the fastest.

I've had these particular ghillie brogues since I was a teenager and so when I found a nearly brand new pair in a thrift store over a year ago, it opened up the possibility to make these.

The buckles can come off and I do have a pair of smart highly polished loafers that they can slip onto not unlike a glenfinnan shoe but I wasn't 100% happy with that solution for a variety of reasons that I won't bore you with.

The way I constructed mine was by punching holes in the upper with my belt hole punch and lacing the buckles through those and then carrying on lacing up the brogues. I also have a strip of industrial velcro between the holes and also stuck to the back of the buckle for added stability.

Here's how they came out.

IMG_20140131_235707.jpg

IMG_20140201_000128.jpg

IMG_20140201_000136.jpg