Going on a shoe binge! Need some help picking out some AE's!

[alan]

Yeah, I'm surprised at how much I like these Hamptons. I thought the grain across the vamp might be offensive to the eyes, but it looks good! It's got a bit of an identity crisis, though. Is it a wingtip, a cap toe, or a spectator? It's a little bit of all three. That might be whey it's going away.

Those suede Malverns look really great. Are they first quality? The Amoks and Katmais I ordered were both a bust so now I'm wishing I had ordered the suede Malverns when they were still available, if for no other reason than to have a backup plan. They're all gone now.

I know for a fact that I'm going to like the Elgins. They're first quality and they could easily be keepers. The Milfords are actually a Christmas gift for my brother so they're staying, but not for me. The Fifth Avenues are going to be interesting. They're seconds so something could still be really wrong with them. Even if they're good, though, they could be the first pair on the chopping block, even if they look good, though, since I already have a pair of walnut balmorals (albeit wingtips).

I think I'm going to keep 3 for myself and then the one to my brother so I'll have to find a way to narrow 5 down to 3 when the others come in. If any of them are flawed, it'll make the decision much easier.

[alan]

How is the fit on the brown grain Malverns? Many AE reviews remark about the ill fit of the shoe.

My Malverns fit me just fine, but every foot is different. They'll fit me even better once they've been broken in.

[alan]

I'm breaking in the Hamptons today. I'm not even waiting for the others to come in before I declare this pair a keeper. These Hamptons are pretty tight, but they're nothing compared to the Hales when I first got them. I'm pretty sure I can stretch them to size just by wearing them and leaving them in shoe trees. Even now, they don't hurt. They're just tight.

[alan]

Status report:

So I never received my black Hastings. Apparently they're sold out in my size. However, they did have a pair that's one size larger so I went ahead and ordered them. Sometimes 12D AE's fit me really well and sometimes they're very tight. I'm hoping that Hastings are tight. If so, maybe the 13D's will fit me ok.

They forgot to ship my walnut grain Park Aves so I told them not to worry about it. I already have some British tan wingtips to fill that niche. I have enough to decide between, already.

The Milfords (the pair for my brother) ended up being super tight, but I put my largest shoe trees in them, and we'll see if that helps. I suspect it will, but my brother has a lower tolerance for these things than I do.

I've already been wearing the brown/brown Hamptons. They're officially my favorites of the bunch. If every single other pair fell through, I'd still feel like a winner with these shoes. I'll admit that the first time I wore them was 10 hours of pure pain. When I took them off, though, I stuffed my biggest shoe trees into them. They've been resting in the shoe trees for a few days now, and sure enough... I'm wearing them today without issue!