Allen Edmonds Cornwallis in Black – $184.84 ($395)
I don’t know when black shoes fell out of daily-wear-favor, but even less trend focused sites like this one (hellllooo!) don’t seem to mention them much anymore. Yet we all pretty much need a pair of black dress shoes. And for $185, with all sizes available at post time, PLUS they ship and return for free? These AE Cornwallis, with that sexy sleekness and medallion toe? Those’ll do just fine.
Goodyear welted. Made in the USA. Built on the 1943 last, they’re sleek but not pointy, with a nicely rounded off, slight chisel toe. The fit on a pair of 10.5 D Cornwallis compared to the very popular 5-last (Park Ave, Strand) is maybe a little tighter through the front of the foot, but that’s before any break in time.
For the design details, what they decided to include, and leave off, is spot on. They’ve got plenty of wingtips and cap-toes in their lineup, so Allen Edmonds decided to go with a smoother look here. No interruption of the toe aside from the swirling, V-shaped medallion the extends all the way down to the very point of the toe. The broguing sweep that starts at the base of the lacing and carries all the way to the back of the heel is reminiscent of a corset, making for one sexy hour-glass from above.
Full review here (in dark brown, but still the same model) if you want it.
Could you wear these with a tux? I would. They’re not a traditional cap toe like a Park Ave., but I wear the similar (and weirder) Weybridge for black tie (which frankly isn’t often, but whatever).
Price matched, so that means Uncle Nordy got wind of another retailer selling these shoes in this color at this price, and dropped their price to compete. I don’t know when this deal expires. Could be today. Could be a few days down the road.
Big thank you to Eric J. for the tip!
That’s all. Carry on.