The latest Jeffrey Campbell For Convert collection is going fast.

Hands up. Who has a closet full of eco-friendly-made shoes? I thought not. While the days of design-lacking green clothing are most definitely over, it remains hard to find stylish, sustainable shoes. “Shoes are the worst eco offenders; it’s the way they are made,” says Randy Brewer, owner of Berkeley’s Convert store. It’s no surprise that his first vegan- and earth-friendly collection with LA-based cult shoe designer, Jeffrey Campbell, a long-standing pal, proved such a hit this past spring.

“Out of all the lines I carry, these are the store’s best sellers,” he reports, “I’ve had calls from all over the world for them. Everyone is really looking for hot vegan and sustainable shoes right now.” Brewer is used to being at the forefront of a new trend. His innovative store dedicated to both style and sustainability on Berkeley’s Fourth Street was the first Bay area store to carry hard-to-find men’s apparel, plus a good mix of women’s sustainable and local labels. As the second collection of Jeffrey Campbell’s shoes begin to hit the store in time for fall, the charismatic Mr. Brewer is busy preparing for the rush.

The “Mention” slipper in Python, also available in quilted pewter.

Once again, the new collection is made leather-free using dead stock materials and non-animal based glues. Alongside the “runway” platforms and flatforms are options for those who are seeking an “eco” aesthetic in their everyday shoes. Mr. Brewer is a fan of the “Mention” slipper, “it’s timeless, it’s ageless really, “ he reports. “Anyone can wear this. It’s been a big hit with older and younger customers. The shoe comes in new color ways and fabrications. “The quilted is a little more traditional, the python is so right now, it looks good with black and a lot of our customers wear all black ensembles, we’ve noticed.”

Borrowed from the boys, the best selling “Prospect”brogue.

The two tone “Prospect,” an eye catching and seasonless borrowed-from-the-boys style (similar styles were seen on models at Balenciaga and Jil Sander’s spring runways), was re-issued for the latest collection, as it proved to be a big hit the first time around.

If you’re not yet scrolling through these photos deciding which style will be yours, here’s something else you should know about the new line, “They’re comfortable too,” shares Brewer, echoing a well-known secret among Jeffrey Campbell shoe lovers. “They took out the leather interiors and replaced it with canvas,” says Brewer, improving both its green credentials and its summer comfort, “It’s not so sweaty.”

Platform Power, the “99 Tie” in sustainable raffia.

The Jeffrey Campbell for Convert collection retails from $104-$159 and is only available at Convert in Berkeley.

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What kind of clothing will our children be looking at in museums in the future?

When I’m in London, my first stop is always the Victoria and Albert museum in Kensington. It houses the world’s best costume collection. Over the years I’ve collectively spent weeks in there, my nose quite literally pressed up against the glass, eyes hungering over panniers, whalebones and crinolettes.

Dress history is the best kind of history to me. Imagining a fellow human, the living breathing body beneath the layers, provides a very direct link from the past to the present. Visiting the First Ladies inaugural dress exhibit at the Smithsonian last month, Jacqueline Kennedy seemed bigger than I’d imagined, Hillary Clinton smaller. Small details for sure, but nonetheless they are details our minds like to inexplicably linger upon.

First Ladies Inaugural Dress Exhibit at the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

With the world-class Balenciaga exhibit at San Francisco’s De Young museum wrapping up last weekend, the Jean Paul Gaultier retrospective opening at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts and the decision to extend the Met’s simply stunning Alexander McQueen “Savage Beauty” show due to record breaking numbers of attendees—clearly the passion for past fashion is striking a chord.

“Fashion exhibitions are thus the height of fashion,” wrote Suzy Menkes for the New York Times earlier this week on the growing trend of high production, money-spinning fashion exhibits. “The explosion of museum exhibitions is only a mirror image of what has happened to fashion itself this millennium. With the force of technology, instant images and global participation, fashion has developed from being a passion for a few to a fascination — and an entertainment — for everybody.”

Alexander McQueen’s “Oyster” Dress at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City

Has the availability of mass-market fashion made us look at and appreciate fashion beyond the immediate trends to analyze changing style in a social context? Or perhaps the values of creativity, custom design and hand production that we so admire in the work of the great designers, deliver greater rewards than our desire for cheap clothing?

You’d think that the kind of clothing, bourgeois and haute couture, shown in museums would be alienating for the majority of us t-shirt and jean wearers. And yet the growing popularity of clothing exhibitions is testament to interest beyond our need simply for clothes.

The great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer once said that nothing is design until ordinary people use it. People around the world want to enjoy an aesthetic quality in their everyday lives. The worry is whether our desire for an aesthetic translates to design that is meaningful beyond an act of consumption.

Cristóbal Balenciaga at the de Young Museum in San Francisco

I guess the big question is what kind of clothing will our children be looking at in museums in the future?  When I see clothing at fashion exhibits like the Balenciaga show I saw recently, I’m reminded of the ethical couture created by the green designers I cover. Like “the Picasso of fashion,” Cristóbal Balenciaga, they are personally invested in their designs, committed to supporting local craftsmanship and the production of handmade materials. It’s fashion that’s not created from fickle top-down design trends but rather from the visionary spirits of designers who claim the earth’s future through clothing.

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