An instant classic, whether or not you put pennies in your loafers for luck.

The iconic loafer was born in Wilton, Maine in 1934. Originally made to be worn indoors, they were designed with a distinctive strip of leather across the saddle with a diamond cutout for comfort and durability. First called Weejuns (sounding like Norwegians), they were made by legendary boot maker, G.H.Bass. But when prep school students in the 1950s decided to insert a penny into the diamond shaped slit, the name “penny loafers” stuck and the hand-sewn slip on with the ivy league heritage became ubiquitous for collegiate cool.

Emerging beyond a teenage fixation, the shoes evolved over the years with certain additions like tassels on the front and the introduction in 1966 by Italian designer, Gucci, of a metal horse snaffle bit. Paired with suits by continental businessmen in the 70s and adopted back by Regan-era men, they bordered on becoming a Wall Street uniform, reaching widespread use by the 1980s.

Welcome to the end of the tyranny of high heel. No longer the domain of sockless Italians or Gordon Gekko wannabes, the preppy stable now comes in every fabrication imaginable, including silver, studs and sequins. And as a much-needed alternative to the ballet shoe, a new generation of be-boppers (Elle Fanning for one) has fallen in love with the boy-meets-girl style just in time for fall’s decidedly bookish 70s looks.

Bridget Bardot proving an iconic shoe style is too sexy cool for school.

Is it just us, or does that red carpet look a little greener?

Tonight, while most people will tune into the 69th Golden Globes to see if The Help will beat out Moneyball for Best Picture, our eyes will be trained on the red carpet pre-show coverage to see Livia Firth kick off her annual Green Carpet Challenge. What can we say? She has us hooked.

Firth, who runs Eco-Age and is married to actor Colin Firth, started the Green Carpet Challenge in 2009 to bring attention to her work in ethical and sustainable fashion. That year, she pledged to only wear upcycled, vintage, and eco-friendly outfits while accompanying her husband on the red carpet during awards season. The following year, the challenge picked up speed when Colin was the Best Actor pick across awards shows for his performance in The King’s Speech. Livia was by his side the whole way through, notably in a gorgeous upcycled Gary Harvey dress at the Oscars.

This year, Firth has recruited an impressive roster of designers who will dress her for awards season in accordance with GCC’s strict ethical and sustainable standards. The list includes Tom Ford, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Stella McCartney.

Tonight’s gown was designed by Giorgio Armani with eco-friendly materials, and Firth has been involved in its creation from day one. Firth described the process as “unreal” and writes on her blog:

To work with Armani was a real lesson in the design process. Everything begins with the material. Fortunately, Giorgio loved the eco material and knew he could work with it. The passion and efficiency of Giorgio’s team has been infectious.

Just before the show kicks off, Livia will release photos of and details about her dress on her Green Carpet Challenge blog at VOGUE UK. We’ll be there too.

Images: VOGUE UK.

Julie Gilhart, who helped Barneys see the potential of major designers during their formative years, who is a pioneer of eco-friendly practices – primarily for creating a green Barneys label – and was a welcoming face at many events featuring the likes of both, has officially left the building. While some might say they could see the struggling Barneys needed a fresh injection, others are crying that she and executive vice president Judy Collinson were blindsided.

Mark Lee, who just accepted the CEO gig at Barneys has replaced Julie’s role as Fashion Director with Daniela Vitae who worked under him at Gucci, where he served as CEO and she was president of all North and South American business. People are fearing that the union of Vitale and Lee under the Barneys roof will dilute the quirkiness and energy of some of its talent, making the iconic store more mainstream.

The New York Times writes that designers have grown accustomed to the “hands-on, almost nurturing approach of Ms. Collinson and Ms. Gilhart, and people in the industry were not sure how to read the decision by Mark Lee, the store’s chief executive since August, to dismiss them on Monday – without warning, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.”

With now recognized names like Proenza Schouler, Olivier Theyskens, Alexander Wang, Zero + Maria Cornejo, AsFour and Alabama Chanin as part of her successful roster of talent schooled through Barneys, the fashion world is up in arms asking “For real?”

The best question going is probably through the New York Times asking “Will Top Firings Change Barneys Cool?”

We can only wait and see, but if this re-shifting proves some sort of new trend for ho-hum mainstream to work its way even more into the fashion industry, we’re in for a boring ride.

UPDATE: A Barneys spokesperson has just informed us that Daniella Vitale will not be replacing Julie Gilhart. The organizational change is as follows: Ms. Vitale was hired on as Chief Merchant and Executive Vice-President responsible for all of Women’s and Barneys.com operations. She is also responsible for the hiring of the new women’s Fashion Director.

According to the 2007 WWF Deeper Luxury Report, the luxury industry lagged behind other brands of consumer products when it came to sustainability. They claimed the cause to be lack of consumer awareness and public demand.

The report ranked a number of companies that included Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes on a sustainability scale, and no companies were given a score higher than a C+. Many brands even failed to get a passing grade.

Three years ago, this report was thought to be the tipping point of the industry. After all, many luxury consumers are increasingly well-educated and concerned about social and environmental issues. Yet the luxury brands were missing out on opportunities to become sustainable leaders.

So where do luxury brands rank today? Particularly the luxury fashion brands?

The answer is not an obvious one. In fact, it is very difficult to uncover the luxury fashion companies who are demonstrating ethical excellence. Given the increase in multinationals who report on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior, it would seem that either luxury brands are slow to engage, or they are doing a poor job at communicating what steps they have taken toward sustainability.

Is it accurate to say that consumer awareness and public demand is still at fault? Or is it that executives have simply become complacent? There are likely a number of reasons why this sector has a poor track record.

But let’s start with the sustainable luxury consumer. Who are they? Let’s face it, they are not you and I. Rather, they are a small percentage of the population who, by definition, can afford indulgence. They are not driven to consumption by necessity, but rather out of pleasure.

I’m not convinced that the reason for this sluggish shift is entirely due to a lack of consumer awareness. It could be that the luxury consumer has simply become accustomed to a lifestyle of waste, and can’t be bothered to make any changes in their shopping habits. Given the resources available to them, awareness is at their fingertips. So if they are truly hungry for sustainable luxury brands, they should know where to find them.

But maybe they are truly concerned consumers, keen to indulge in products that have a lighter environmental footprint. The only obstacle they face, however, is the lack of options available to them. Certain sectors are undoubtedly leading the way in the world of sustainable luxury. There are many options for the home, the car, and even travel. It appears however, that it is the luxury fashion industry that is digging in its heels.

So if its not about a lack of consumer awareness, it may have something to do with the complacency of companies – particularly those where there is a generational gap in decision-making. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?

Wrong. Clearly it is broken. The reality is that we cannot continue to deplete our earth’s resources at the rate of those before us.

We must all come together in this crucial paradigm shift, and luxury brands have the ability to take a leadership role.

According to Graydon Carter, editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair: “For the new generation, luxury brands that will not take environmental issues into consideration will lose most of their appeal. Modern brands must address these questions. Ignoring them would be old-fashioned and would equal a return to the previous century.”

If we all aspire for luxury, then the same could be said of sustainable luxury. Will our younger generations flip through Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, ogling ads for sustainably made Chanel bags, or hemp silk gowns by Versace? Possibly. One can only hope.

Images: chad davis, dr_vaibhavahuja, Sarah McD

Jeesh. Yesterday I was flooded with friends’ and colleagues’ emails begging me to write a rebuttal to what they thought were one or two writers slamming the eco-fashion industry.

It had already gone pretty viral by the time the emails came in and only this morning did I really take note. Sometimes knee-jerk reactions can prove disastrous, even if you want to be the first to herald the crappy news and the news is simply: nobody knows what eco-fashion is. Big deal.

For those of you who care what I have to think about eco-fashion, here it is:

Eco-fashion is a veritable hell mess defined sadly and mostly by archaic industry professionals who like the game to work for them.

It’s also called self-serving eco-branding.

Greenwashing? No.
Survival? Yes.
You know who you are.

Note that I wrote “mostly.”
The people interviewed in the first article, which debuted in Financial Times, were fantastic representatives of the “mostly.”

Here’s how FT’s writer Vanessa Friedman quoted them as defining eco-fashion:

Frida Giannini, Gucci creative director: “Quality items that stand the test of time – it is this concept of sustainability, symbolised by a timeless handbag that you wear again and again, and can pass on, that I am always thinking of when I design.”

Oscar de la Renta, designer, brand founder: “Sustainable fashion implies a commitment to the traditional techniques, and not just the art, of making clothes. I work today in the same way that I first learnt in the ateliers of Balenciaga and Lanvin 50 years ago. We need to ensure that the next generation of seamstresses and tailors have the skills necessary to develop clothes that are not only beautiful but extremely well made.”

Anya Hindmarch, designer, brand founder, and initiator of the “I am not a plastic bag” initiative: “I would define the ideal as locally sourced materials that don’t pollute in their creation or demise (preferably recycled) and with limited transportation to achieve the completed product.”

And, lastly, designer and brand founder Dries van Noten: “Most of what we may currently refer to as sustainable fashion is a contradiction in terms. It refers to how the fabric used for a new garment has been produced … Yet, I believe, we need to consider this issue from a more macro and profound perspective. Though a cotton may be unbleached, we need to examine how it arrives to the manufacturer or to us the wearer. What was the “˜carbon imprint’ of its delivery, for example?”
Not all the same, then.”

I agree with all of these responses.

But, please understand that these designers are so far removed from their lines. They do not design their lines, their designers design the lines and their marketing professionals decide which campaign could benefit them. And the flavor of the year, for them, is light green.

They are too big to care what the hell eco-fashion is, so they invent off-the-cuff definitions to support the little they do to contribute to this new, darker green world.

(Next time, Vanessa, call me and I’ll give you a different list for interviews.)

These fashion giants – minus Ms. Hindmarch – have a lot of money and could be doing a lot more, by the way, than using “traditional” techniques. As for the others, the not “mostly’s” who live and breathe what it takes to be sustainably designing, there aren’t enough sermons in the world to dedicate to you.

They are smaller design houses, independents, creating from small studios all over the world.

They are supported by indie boutiques all over the world.

They are broke.

They are struggling to be artists, to make really beautiful clothing from organic materials. They are juggling their lines by being coffee baristas and part-time brokers.

They are not necessarily committed to, as Maria Moyer, one of my favorite new people recently said, “Picking a lane.”

What this means is that these same designers, first and foremost, need to design. If they can then use an organic fabric, cut down their carbon footprint, give percentages to the homeless, work with water-based dyes, incorporate alternative energy at their facilities, manufacture locally and make it in the U.S. well, all the better. But designers must first design.

When they focus on that, they are able to create objects of worth that transcend trends and can be used not only to satisfy our urge to adorn but to outlast so we don’t need more.
We, the consumers, also need to be more conscious of what we buy. We play a big part in this, too.

When writers proclaim prematurely that “nobody knows what eco-fashion is,” they fail to realize it’s just more fuel on our fire.

That it only makes our community stronger and more willing to design sustainably because it does matter so much for our health and for the environment.

Because this isn’t just about defining eco-fashion. This is about conscious consumption, and we Americans know nothing of it.

Therein lies our eco-fashion paradox.

Our own fashion burden to bear.

Image: CoCreatr’s

My partner in Sixties vintage couture crime, artist Joan Davis, called me the other day and said I had to check out Torso Vintages, an ultra cool used couture outlet in San Francisco’s Union Square.

In town just a few days to pedal her flower-powered paintings, Joan had immediately sensed where to dig up archaeological relics of Pucci and Gucci – the way my pug can sniff a German Shepherd or hamburger a mile away.

I jotted down the name to this source for  shifts and clutches. Sure, there are ample consignment shops around in  chic towns like ours, but few sell what connoisseurs consider three dimensional art, i.e. something Jacky O. or Lily Pulitzer would have worn to lunch at Harry’s Bar with the girls. You have to weed through lots of synthetic yardage and depleted, tired boas to find the real gems.

As it turns out, the source she told me about is among the vendors strutting their fabulous stuff on the hottest new online boutique for the real McCoys of vintage fashion style.

Yes, hopeless fashion romantics such as Joan and I are the types 1st Dibs is banking on to do for Geoffrey Beene A-line cloaks and YSL Jockey Hats (above)  what the Web site did for haute  furnishings: Gather the best offerings from dealers around the world to sell for a range of prices.

That range at 1st Dibs cuts a wide swath:

From the doable after a glass of wine with lunch: Whimsical Pierre Cardin sunglasses from the 1960s. $250.

To the the pretty pricey: 1960s Pucci shift, $400, and Ungaro dress, $650.

To the investment statement: M. Haskell 1940′s Multicolored Fringed Bib Necklace USA, 1940′s. $3,250.

To a taste of  Samantha Jones at Versailles: Hermes Birkin of Matte Black Porosus Crocodile. $65,000.

John Hadeed, owner of Torso Vintages, finds 1st Dibs is helping to put him and others in his stylish field on the map in a big way.

“We’ve had calls and emails from all over the country and the world,” the collector told SF Gate.  “We’re dealing with people who really love clothes.”

Michael Bruno, the clever founder of 1st Dibs, hired vintage couture expert Clair Watson (above) to supervise the fashion site and locate the first dealers. They include seasoned second-hand harvesters with a penchant for Hermes, such as Createurs de Luxe, and the owner of the Way We Wore in Los Angeles, a dealer named Doris Watson who is offering her most precious and rare works of art to the website.

The good news is vintage is on a roll because of the recession and our renewed appreciation for classics over buying new junk made abroad.

Check out the site and see if there is anything you can afford (that’s bigger than a size 2 or 4) to add to your wardrobe. All you do is click on the era that suits you (from Deco to Contemporary).

What’s the best deal you can score on the site? Perhaps an undesirable Chado Ralph Rucci evening bag for $175. This is not the place to pluck the deal of the century.

Main Image: 1st Dibs

Image two: Vintage Shopping Guide