Hush Puppies At Front Of The Fashion Pack

Hush Puppies, the totally dweeby crepe-soled shoes of the 1960s, aren't so dweeby anymore. They come in 23 stylish colors and are about to collect a major fashion award.

Hush Puppies, in neutral pigskin suede oxfords or loafers, introduced casual shoes to the nation in 1958. Other manufacturers followed, with styles that were more youthful, even hip. And Hush Puppies settled into the comfort zone of a mid-priced shoe for the middle-aged, middle-class man and woman.

Then fashion-forward menswear designer John Bartlett breathed new life into them. He had them made up in bright colors and put them on the runway with his last two collections. He called them "an American icon" with "a great retro kitsch about them."

And Anna Sui, for her preview of next spring's fashions, paired scarlet, bubble-gum pink and lemon butter Hush Puppies with updated preppy plaids.

Now Sharon Stone wears them. So does David Bowie. And the Council of Fashion Designers of America is honoring Hush Puppies as the top accessory of 1995, an award to be presented at a black-tie - no pink pigskins, please - dinner in New York on Feb. 12.

Generational buzzword

"We love that the shoe is a little unpredictable," says Fern Mallis, executive director of the trade organization. "Mentioning Hush Puppies has become like a generational gap buzzword. People absolutely don't get it or instantly know it's hot. Clearly it's the hippest, coolest shoe of the moment."

And it's a moment worth seizing. In March, Joel Fitzpatrick added a Hush Puppies boutique to Pleasure Swell, his clothing store on trendy North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. He has sold 6,000 pairs since March and expects to sell about 11,000 in 1996.

"Hush Puppies have this retro familiarity and name brand significance that people are really attached to," he says. "It's no-nonsense re-invented for the '90s."

Fitzpatrick's client list reads like a Hollywood Who's Who: Jim Carrey, Patricia Arquette, Elton John, Darryl Hannah, Jeanne Tripplehorn. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres claims 30 pairs of Hush Puppies.

"My waiting list has never gone under 100," Fitzpatrick says. "Trucks show up here with enough shoes to fill a warehouse, and they sell out in two days."

Resurgence of the sensible shoe is in step with suburban preppy dress, popular with young people along with nerdy fashion, and a more casual dress code in the office. It's an anti-designer attitude that oozes effortless style.

When Tom Hanks wore Hush Puppies in "Forrest Gump," nostalgia ignited. Nordstrom, with a nod toward the film, advertises them with the slogan, "Comfort is as comfort does."

The latest Hush Puppies ad campaign declares, "We invented casual."

Indeed, says marketing director Jeff Lewis, when they hit the market in 1958, "there was no casual shoe industry. You wore wingtips, and when they got old, you wore them to mow the lawn and bought a new pair of wingtips."

Style basically the same

Hush Puppies are made for men, women and children. The style has remained basically the same, though the leather is more durable and today's shoe has a removable cushion insert.

And there are lots more colors, 23 in all. They range from the original colors - black, tan, gray and root beer - to the newer, funkier shades such as Chinese violet, a mint green meadow mist and a rusty hot pepper.

The old dog has even more new tricks. Seven combinations of two-tone shoes are due in February, along with a golf shoe with spikes and kiltie.

Prices are about $70 per pair, compared with $9.95 back in 1958. Hush Puppies are sold in 74 foreign countries and at outlets throughout the United States. They're available at your neighborhood shoe store and at 120 free-standing franchises, as well as at upscale locales such as Bloomingdale's, Barneys New York, Nordstrom, Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Charivari in New York and Mac in San Francisco.

The company, headquartered in Rockford, Mich., about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids, project sales of 400,000 pairs for 1995, compared with 100,000 in 1994.

"There's something warm and fuzzy about Hush Puppies that all sorts of people relate to," Lewis says. "We've received cards from college students and from people in their 80s. One card came from a grandmother who said she'd bought a pair for herself, and soft violet for her granddaughter."