The One Thing: The Alessandro 1895 by Berluti
There are dress shoes, and then there are foundations. Within the world of Berluti, the Alessandro is the latter — a lace-up so distilled in form it has shaped the Maison’s entire design language for more than a century. Now, the house revisits its origin story with the Alessandro 1895, a contemporary interpretation of the historic original.
The story begins not in Paris, but with Alessandro Berluti himself: a craftsman who moved from woodwork into leather, imagining a shoe of radical simplicity. One piece of leather. No excess stitching. Just three sets of eyelets. When Torello Berluti opened the first boutique on Rue du Mont-Thabor in 1929, beside Place Vendôme, he realised his father’s vision and named the shoe in his honour.
The Alessandro 1895 returns to that source.
Where later evolutions streamlined the silhouette into sharper, elongated proportions, this edition restores a rounder, fuller contour — softer in line, but no less assured. The defining principle remains untouched: a continuous upper cut from a single piece of leather, uninterrupted except for its eyelets. It’s minimalism with heritage behind it.
Construction, however, is thoroughly modern. The sole has been redesigned for a more precise fit, and the outer leather lightened for greater suppleness and ease of movement. Traditional Goodyear construction remains, offering durability and structure, while a thickly stitched leather welt nods discreetly to Berluti’s bespoke shoemaking credentials.
Material matters here. The ready-to-wear Alessandro 1895 is crafted from Venezia calfskin, finished with archive-inspired patinas designed to evolve with wear. Charcoal Brown — a deep, smoky tone inspired by burnt wood — offers richness and contrast. Charcoal Grey leans darker and more mineral, sharper in attitude and distinctly urban.
For collectors, Berluti goes further. A made-to-order special edition reproduces the original model with historical accuracy, crafted in Voyage calfskin — a dense leather developed to echo the hand and spirit of the earliest Alessandros. Vegetable-tanned and finished with an artistic tattooing technique to simulate natural ageing, it’s designed to look lived-in from the outset — and to improve from there.
Our pick this week:
Alessandro 1895 Oxford in Charcoal Brown or Charcoal Grey
Made-to-Order Voyage Calfskin Edition