A bit of patina always adds to the character of a shoe. This John Lobb, albeit somewhat interesting before hand, looks so much better after Alexander (of Dandy Shoe Care) added a bit of life to it by touching up the red part with a bit of black blotching. Before it was almost a bit of reddish orange and while interesting (on a positive viewpoint) was also a bit garish. But adding a bit of black in there, really toned it down and made the contrast quite subtly amazing. The combination of black and red holds a special place in my heart (from my time at Bemer’s), so seeing things like this will always tickle my fancy. Then of course, it never hurts when several of my interests are put into one shoe: balmoral, wingtip and two tone. Lovely as always when it comes from Alexander!