A master craftsman who ages shoes
Patina artist Emmanuel Farre gives new shoes an old look for style-conscious men
Looking old is a quality rarely embraced in fashion. When it comes to men’s footwear, however, it turns out that aging is both an art form and a way to stand out from the crowd.
Thanks to Paris-born Yannick Bigourdan, the entrepreneur who brought the Paris-based gentleman’s footwear and accessories brand Loding to Toronto, there’s now a whole new métier for fashionable self-expression in town — except that it’s not exactly new.
“The idea of giving shoes a patina is something that all the best shoemakers in London, Italy and Paris have been doing for many years,” says Bigourdan. Accordingly, his latest French import is a patina artist named Emmanuel Farre, who recently moved to Canada and is now plying his unique brand of style alchemy at Loding boutiques (Mondays at First Canadian Place, and the rest of the week at 133 Avenue Rd.) in Toronto.
Farre, a trained visual artist from Paris who grew up in a self-described museum (his mother was an antique dealer), and avid eBay fan with his own “massive” vintage apparel and shoe collection, is the first to agree that when we talk about an object having patina, we are usually referring to an ephemeral quality that is only acquired over time.
“It is the same way we feel about antiques, how we admire the subtle discolourations and residue of history,” says Farre, who, in three days, can take a pair of factory-dyed leather shoes — or anything made from leather, from a belt to a chair (so long as it’s light-coloured) — and give it the subtle richness and depth of antiquity.
Subtle being the operative word. On the elegance he aspires to in his patina finishes, Farre tells the story of the famed 19th-century dandy Beau Brummel. “He was once stopped on the street by a stranger who remarked on how elegant he looked. ‘Not that elegant, sir,’ said the dandy, ‘if you noticed it.’ ”
Farre’s kaleidoscopically daubed work surface tells the story of an artistic process involving many hues. The first step in patina art involves degrading the factory-sprayed dye on the shoes until it resembles the leather equivalent of sandpapered wood.
Farre, who works with a combination of natural pigments and leather dyes applied with tiny brushes, then typically paints and carefully removes about eight to 12 layers of colour to achieve the desired aged effect, with drying time in between. Rubbing off the colour in the right spots to mimic wear and environmental degradation proves as essential as choosing the right hues to layer.
“The last thing you want is for the colour to be too intense,” says Farre. “It’s like cooking. Always a matter of the proper ingredients and the right proportion.”
One remarkable classically styled penny loafer, which Farre has refinished in layers of bronze and green, has the metallic effect of an aged copper penny.
“I call this one the Marie Antoinette,” says Farre, who is sporting a similarly show-stopping pair: caramel-hued brogues with a cheetah patterned finish on the pointed toes. His vividly absinthehued Green Hornet design might not be for all tastes, but, insists Farre, “anyone, even a more conservative person like a banker or a lawyer, can pull off a pair of eggplant-coloured shoes.”
Both Bigourdan and Farre agree that North American tastes, particularly for men, which may have lagged behind those of Europeans, are becoming increasingly more style-conscious and sophisticated. Farre describes his typical client as neither young nor old, but “anyone who has an interest in fashion and wants to stand out with something a little bit unique or different.”
One feature of Loding shoes, which are made of full-grain French calf leather in Spain, Portugal and “a little bit in India,” is that no matter the style, they are all the same price ($330 per pair). With a customized patina by Farre, the price is $550. He will also work his magic on any outside leather piece for a fee of $250. “A woman came in with her Hermes Birkin and I gave it a special finish,” says Farre, who was unfazed by its $10,000plus price tag or its heavy-hitting label. Karen von Hahn is a Toronto-based writer, trend observer and style commentator. Contact her at kvh@karenvonhahn.com.