St. James - Side-Laced Boot by Edward Green

Innovative 1909 Design

Please forgive my shaky typing. I'm just a little stirred up having borne witness to quite possibly the finest boot in all Christendom. The St. James by Edward Green of Northampton, England, has the sort of sui generis beauty that can end marriages and induce fist fights amongst hitherto respectable types. Like many of the craftsman pieces we cover in The Tweed Pig, they wouldn't look out of place in an art museum. (Actually, they might against some of the uglier, artistically redundant pieces that pass for art.)

The boot is inspired by Edward Green's 1909 patent for a side-laced boot; the year Tel Aviv was founded and the sensational Ballet Russes began performing in Europe. The side-lacing has a practical purpose, similar to the spats (or spatterdashes) used to protect shoes from the elements that were popular around that time.






















The boot comes in black calf and suede, burgundy (nightshade) and navy suede or dark oak calf and mink suede — all on a durable oak bark tanned sole. One can picture the scene of foggy London streets and the sound of cane and boots tick-tacking on the pavement as you wend your way home from an evening of Russian ballet and a nightcap of absinthe.

I want them. You want them. Let's form an orderly queue. This isn't mass-produced and over-marketed rubbish that people seem willing to fight over given the right amount of hype, so there's no need for pushing and shoving outside the doors of Edward Green's Jermyn Street shop okay? That sort of thing just won't do in Jermyn Street. Leave that to Oxford Street.