FIT Ivy Symposium: Ivy in Japan

I'll be honest. I watched  Dr. Masafumi Monden's presentation with jaw dropping amazement last Friday at FIT's Ivy Symposium. Whenever I look at anything through a different set of eyes... what was common and every day turns into something new and in this case, damned near magical.

The other night I dreamed I was a dog hanging out with a bunch of other dogs who were my friends.  We were having a blast running around with our tongues hanging out.  I woke up and had new respect for what's it like being a dog.  I'm not sure if that makes any sense to you.  Music might be more accessible.  Masafumi turned me onto a new 'GS' band, The Wild Ones.    

You can hear a sample of  Japanese Group Sounds or GS here (@5:50 in there's a cover of the Beach Boy's, 'Surfing USA). I hear some friends outside barking so in the event you do enjoy looking at things through a different set of eyes, I leave you with this sweet biscuit...

"Japanese magazines, Michael Bastian and LL Bean"

I'm reading this magazine over the summer ^ and I see this...

An article on Michael Bastian. There he is ^ on the fire place mantel. Nice tortoise shell in the fireplace. As an ex-National Park Ranger, I can only hope that was acquired pre-1973. I'm sure it was. I like Bastian's line. Good looking, normal clothes with Trad centered in the cross hairs. Cool shoes as well and they're L.L. Bean Camp Moccasins. Wow! A big time fashion designer wearing $69 shoes. Gotta love that.

I like 'em a lot so I finally get around to placing an order. They arrived last week and they were a good half size too big. Call up the 24/7 toll free number. Bing-Bang. 8.5 's are on the way. I will say that Bean is and always has been one of the best customer service companies I've ever done business with. They really do make it easy. I get the 8.5 moc today and they fit perfectly. So, I'm putting the 9's back in the box to return when I see it. Do you see it? Those 9's are only a week old. Compared to the 8.5's, they look like they were distressed.

There's a HUGE (like the magazine-get it?) difference between the color, grain, finish and shape of toe. The 8.5 is a much better looking shoe than the 9. I check out the box thinking maybe I ordered different colors - - Nope, same color, vendor, country of origin and stock number. Bean paid for the shipping on the new shoes although I will get dinged for $6 to return the old ones. Free shipping both ways if you sign on for their credit card but that's the last thing I need. I'd have more Bean stuff than a lesbian phys ed teacher in Wisconsin.

Lately, there's been a lot of quotes citing Bastian's love of the Bean Camp Moc along with Randolph sunglasses (wore them in the Army - American Optical is better) . He said, "There are things that are perfection in their generic-ness." Just like that line. Pure perfection, buddy. Now, where did you get that shell?

Trad Sex, Dinty Moore and Timberlands

The Free & Easy cover for October 2008 (which features the Abercrombie & Fitch coat below) reminded me of something. But what? After dropping $14.50 for the magazine at Kinokuniya, a beautiful Japanese book store in NYC, I walked across the street to Bryant Park and consumed the images in about 10 minutes. Not much to read and even less if you can't read Japanese.

Heading up to midtown it hit me. My boot shot from Ellis Island. Yes, it would appear I've been taking pictures of my shoes for many years. The shot of my Timberland work boot was taken circa 1985 from a window high above the Main Registry building on Ellis looking at the Statue of Liberty. This image could also be titled, "Free & Easy."

As a National Park Ranger assigned to the Statue and Ellis, I made $12,500 a year in 1985. While the work wasn't "Free" - - it was "Easy" as the above pic testifies. The best and lowest paying job I ever had. I was able to stretch out a one and half pound can of Dinty Moore beefstew over a week thanks to a 10 pound bag of Basmati rice. I drank lots of tap water. I ate a can of tuna fish for lunch...every day. I was 150 pounds, a 30" waist and in the best shape of my life. Better than the Army. But I was poor. And NYC is no place to be poor. "Rich girls don't date poor boys, J. Gatsby." No shit.

I remember the occasional complaint to other Rangers about how hard it was to date (ie:get laid) in NYC as a poor park ranger. I am now told by an old Ranger Buddy my complaints were hourly. He's still with the Park Service and mentioned to me the upcoming Park Service documentary by Ken Burns. I suggested a major film star, Martin Sheen, could read my letters as voice over, describing my lonlieness and desire for female companionship (ie: get laid) while assigned to the Statue and Ellis. My Ranger buddy replied, "Don't you mean, Charlie Sheen?"

When the Statue was closed to the public, I was transferred to Ellis Island and worked as a Museum Technician on the artifact removal. That is, everything on Ellis was packed up and moved to a warehouse somewhere in Manhattan. This allowed me to purchase a pair of steel toed boots courtesy of the federal government. God forbid, I drop something on my foot and file a disability claim for that whopping $12,500 job.

I went to a number of shoe stores and was overwhelmed with just how ugly work boots were. Not that they've changed much. It was in one store I saw the Timberland boot. I fell in love with it. But it wasn't steel toed. So, I bought 'em anyway, submitted the receipt to the Park Service and was reimbursed. I suspect I could've bought a pair of wingtips without any questions.

I still have the same Timberlands 23 years later. They've survived 19 Chicago winters as the only boot I ever wore with a suit. Toasty warm with decent traction on the ice sidewalk in front of the Hancock. Great looking with jeans but something of a statement untied with shorts and a untucked button down somewhere on the North Shore. A wonderful boot with soul - - I can't wear them without a strange desire for some Dinty Moore.

The Trad Mocc

I see a lot of things in my mind's eye when I look at these shoes. Crew cuts and black plastic frame glasses. Martin Milner in Route 66. Pegged khakis with white socks and a short sleeve Madras pop-over. Beer cans with two triangular holes on the top. Bermuda shorts with a starched white button down shirt worn untucked. Rangefinders. A 101 Land Camera. Narrow ties.

In 1965, Florsheim introduced the Yuma. A plain vamp moccasin hand sewn in the Chicago factory. I'm pretty sure Trad Dad owned a pair. As mentioned before, he was fond of short sleeve bleeding madras and chinos in the summer. Grey trousers, v-neck sweaters and white or blue button downs in the winter. Not bad for an Army officer where his counterpart dressed in hi -water Sansabelts from the PX. I remember a black pair of Yumas with his deeply cuffed grey trousers.

While I prefer the Yuma in black, it was re-released in 1997 or '98 as a "Royal Imperial" model in authentic cordovan for around $400. Talk about Trad. The manager of the NYC Florsheim at 49th and Madison told me they used a cordovan from a French tannery until it went out of business adding they were one of his biggest sellers. He never understood why the non-cordovan shoes were discontinued. I told him these decisions were usually made by some asshole with an accounting degree. He nodded.

Now...for some good news. I saw the Yuma in the June issue of, "Last." A Japanese magazine one might refer to as Shoe Porn and the lovely Kikuko at Brooks Brothers on Madison translated for me. The Yuma is to be reintroduced this fall. It will no longer be made in Chicago but that's okay. It should be cheap. If only they would do it in a Horween cordovan, the last cordovan tannery in the US. I'd ebay those Lobbs in a heartbeat.