FOOTWEAR FOCUS ROAD TEST


Henry Harington road tests bugatti’s style 60335 and recalls his youth in South Africa


An evolutionary tale E


veryone has seen the graphic of what is, generally, a silhouette of evolutionary progress starting with a primate, his long arms dragging


on the ground as he transforms into an upright human carrying a spear before becoming a be-suited modern man craning his neck over a computer or mobile phone. The first humans emerged from Africa, incidentally, making us all African in our DNA. I also emerged from Africa; in fact, I was raised there. And my shoeing habits were fashioned by my environment.


If I was not running around barefoot, with my soles as hard as leather


repelling the stones and thorns, I was wearing veldskoene. This ancient type of boot probably evolved from the leather footwear of the Khoisan (Bushmen), who originally populated South Africa, and which were adapted by the white settlers to become the iconic footwear of the continent.


Veldskoene were adopted by the British


who christened them “Desert boots” because a shoe designer was inspired by the shape and design of veldskoene he discovered for sale in a Cairo bazaar.


Like an anthropologist I have now discovered the


ultimate development of the veldskoen. It would be fun to deliver my explanation of this amazing discovery in the hushed and deliberate tones of Sir David Attenborough explaining primate evolution while standing next to a disinterested gorilla but of course Sir David is incomparable so you will have to read about this astonishing revelation in the annals of Footwear Today!


The sighting was made when I opened a new shoe box with boots I had


been sent to road test from bugatti. I have tested shoes from bugatti before and found them to be at the highest level of shoe evolution. bugatti aims for its shoes to be “fashionable, elegant, comfortable and clearly noticeable.” Sharing the name of a famous brand of car that reflects the same values one expects bugatti shoes to be superior in design and comfort.


The ankle boots that emerged did not disappoint. bugatti say the shoes


are from their “bugatti Denim collection,” with a wide range of age appeal, reflecting a lifestyle that is contemporary and European. In short, the highest form of evolution!


14 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • FEBRUARY 2020 Since I am the “shoe anthropologist” that has made this discovery and


bugatti have not given the boot anything more than the generic title “brown boot” I claim the right to dub it, recalling its antecedents in among the veldskoene, the “bugatti Svelteshoen.”


It is a perfect description. Svelte is defined in the Merriam-Webster


dictionary as “slender, lithe, having clean lines, sleek” and, and this defines the bugatti shoes very accurately, “urbane and suave.”


My old veldskoene was most


definitely bucolic boots to be used on dusty tracks in the bush. The “bugatti Svelteshoen” can be worn in a smart casual environment – taking the partner to a smarter than usual pub or to a better class of shop (definitely not to be wasted just popping down to Tesco or Aldi).


Unusually the “bugatti Svelteshoen”


don’t have a defined heel, they have completely flat outside soles. But this in no way detracts from their comfort and


offers all the support one requires for the type of use in an urban environment. Indeed, they are supremely comfortable and stylish.


Whether a future Sir David Attenborough will be making documentaries


about the evolution of the shoe, I have no doubt they will cite the discovery of my “bugatti Svelteshoen” as a distinct transition to shoe style and comfort.


Product details: bugatti Style 60335 From the Bugatti Denim collection, casual/lifestyle.


It has a wide range of age appeal, as the comfort and fit is not compromised by the style RRP £79.95 Trade Price: £33.33 Contact: Bench Grade Brands | T: 01604 686800 | E: service@benchgradebrands.com


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