The Art of the Shoe: John Lobb's International Shoe Spectacular

When it comes to the art of men's dress shoes, there are few people who take it as seriously as the folks at John Lobb. The heritage brand was founded in 1866 and is basically the gold standard for a nice pair of fancy kicks. No cost is spared when crafting these beauties, from their immaculate use of the highest quality fabrics to the hand-made detail work. They're so beautiful it almost seems a shame to let them touch the ground.

Well, the folks over at John Lobb got to thinking about their customer recently, and they've realized that their shoes grace the feet of men from Tokyo to Paris and back again -- yet each city has it's own very specific sense of style. So they proposed a challenge to themselves and to artisans in 11 different world capitals: to design two shoes to represent the population of that city. We got a chance to peek at the fabulous footwear last week, and it was superb. Each shoe was gorgeous, like a work of art, but also channeled the energy of their respective cities. From London's buckle-strapped derby boots to Taipei's moccasin with crocodile inlay each pair was a feast for the eyes.

If you're a shoe-fetishist like ourselves and want to peek at the goodies, they'll be on display through the end of this week at the Manhattan John Lobb store, located at 680 Madison Avenue.