If you understand the savoir-faire involved with making Berluti and John Lobb shoes, then it’s easy to accept a four-figure sticker price. These handcrafted shoes are investment dressing 101. (To wit, one guest at a recent John Lobb presentation mentioned a pair he has had since the 1990s; fathers and sons now together, with the elder often bringing in a pair for a spruce up, according to company brass.) In a luxury climate where authenticity matters and quality isn’t always what it used to be, Berluti and John Lobb are two brands that deliver the promise, the former delivering lifestyle options expanded beyond just shoes and the other continuing a time-honored English shoe construction, with its Paris arm held under the Hermes umbrella.
130 Years of Berluti
For Berluti, it was a momentous year celebrating its 130th Anniversary; that alone is a feat in today’s brand landscape. To celebrate, the brand took over the Parisian ‘Hotel Particulier’ the Fondation Simone & Cino del Duca for a uniquely French-Meets-Italian sensibility to show its savoir-faire for leather goods and beyond. The brand hosted press appointments daily and partied in the storied residence near the Parc Monceau by night.
With historical artifacts on display, the brand took the occasion to introduce its Fall Winter 2025 collection, which focused on the Démesure shoe, the Forestière jacket, and the Périple jacket.
The shoe evidence of Berluti’s craftsmanship was seen in the original Alessandro shoe from 1895, which launched the brand after Alessandro Berluti outfitted a lively troupe of actors en route to Paris in need of shoes. Today, the classic lace-up style has taken many tweaks and iterations, and the latest styles were displayed sitting under ceramic vitrines adorned with Berluti sunglasses. With brush bristles on top of the tubular shapes, it gave the effect of a chic Mr. Potato Head.
The key clothing message was the three-pouch-pocket style Forestière jacket first introduced in 1947. It was imagined on the Left Bank of Paris during the post-WWII period by Arnys, bespoke tailors, and the artful tastemakers. For Fall 2025, it comes in various styles, including a chunky knit version, heavy Melton wool, and velvet styles with a mod touch thanks to its tab collars.
Reinforcing the brand’s leather goods finesse was an artisan demonstrating the savoir-faire involved in the tanning process and the Périple bag, first introduced twenty years ago. It was deconstructed and displayed across a table podium that broke down each component into this handy bag with several styles to accommodate one day or several days’ worth of needs.
While the goods were on display for several days, a special cocktail event was held one evening to celebrate the brand’s milestone that included an impromptu DJ session following the official DJ and event end time of 9 PM. The caterer and producer tapped by Berluti also happened to be part of a former popular DJ duo in Paris that took to the turntables kept the dancing floor going until 11 PM. With its’ in-the-moment mood and a plethora of creative types, it probably recalled the mood around those lively actors Alessandro joined 130 years ago that set his fate in motion.
John Lobb’s Working Guy
The British-founded and now Hermes-owned John Lobb also brought forth a case for investing in shoes with British heritage and Parisian flare. The news for the brand is the 75th anniversary of the Lopez loafer style, shown in several new versions, including a molted pony hairstyle inspired by the marble effect of the museum calf and in colors such as dark green and dark cherry.
Encompassing all aspects of a man’s life, organized according to a company release like a ‘military trousseau,’ John Lobb suggests for fall that men should have an everyday derby, aka the Academy, a chukka boot aka Barracks, elegant derby aka Council and the formal double buckle boot aka Alliance, which comes with a new rubber sole ready for any weather condition, among other new introductions.
To visualize the John Lobb man, the brand turned its 2eme arrondissement headquarters showroom into a contemporary and stylish gentlemen’s apartment. But in reality, one person John Lobb CEO Philippe Gonzalez had in mind was the busy Dad of today.
To meet the needs of this multi-faceted man juggling several daily responsibilities, Gonzalez told reporters he was thinking of ‘the man he sees in Paris, biking in his suit with his kids to drop them off to school before going to the office.’ In a twist on the classic Working Girl film, which highlighted the practice of commuting in sneakers, then changing into pumps in the office is the introduction of the Cover backpack—part of an inaugural line of shoe accessories—made to haul a pair of shoes a computer and other essentials. The idea was that sneakers would be the shoes to commute in, and then he would change into the dressier style upon reaching the bureau. After all, it’s a good investment to protect a pair of shoes costing about 2K.
Read the full article here