Hot off the press: Scott Emerson of Narrative Footwear just sent us another sneak peek at his collection, which is debuting at Micam later this month

Check it out after the jump.

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With all the Mod and British influences in menswear right now, we’re kinda hoping for a Creeper revival. And T.U.K. is the source for all of that.  Pictured left, a fresh take on the classic style.

Sometimes sneakers just aren’t right. Footwear that’s both distinctive in its styling, and casual, but not too casual is the direction the market is headed this season, as evidenced by the abundance of dressy-casual hybrids we saw at Compass last weekend. Check out some highlights after the jump. At left, the latest from Vael.

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John Varvatos just celebrated his 10^th anniversary in the footwear game—he began by making high quality Goodyear –welted shoes for his runway shows and started wholesaling them shortly after—now footwear accounts for close to 25% of his total business. The collection is known for the use of soft, aged leathers, stripped colors, and a familiar worn in look. At Compass, the designer is showing 2 labels—Collection, which is made in Italy and is affiliated with his clothing collection; and Star USA, a new label which ties back to the sportswear of the same name. We’ve got some pics… after the jump.

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The SeaVees boys, founders Derek Galkin and Steven Tiller gave us some scoop regarding what we can look out for at Compass on Friday. While fashion and design may fill their time – it seems like Sloane from Entourage has also been occupying some of their time recently. 

What has caught your eye recently?  Sloane on season 6 of Entourage.

What are you planning on showing for SS10 (key trends, fabrics, colors etc…) For constructions, it’s our patented SeaVulc construction.  Made with natural rubber, it allows us to make casuals with the comfort of a sneaker.  For materials: long-napped suedes, sea-washed sail cloth, bamboo linen, and authentic Indian bleeding madras.  In colors, we roll out several new lost treasures from the Pantone archives of the 1960s (our exclusive collaboration with Pantone is in its 3rd season).  We especially love ivory, grey-blues, and clay.

What are some themes found throughout your collection?   A continuation of our California in the 60s brand origin, but as we enter our 5th season we delve a little deeper… Gerry Mulligan and West Coast Jazz, the early San Francisco Beat culture, the folk-rock scene at the Troubadour in L.A., a young captain of the UCLA mens’ tennis team named Arthur Ashe.  

In other boot news, Los Angeles based Beryll Studios offer some army boot inspired styles that are “distressed by hand from restored leather sourced from the 60s and 70s. Since each piece is unique, each boot includes a fingerprint signature of the artisan who handcrafted the boot.” Great works from this design studio. We hope to see more from them outside their sunglass and bag line. 580$US for those looking to get their hands on these. (acquire/selectism)

Blackbird Seattle is selling some vintage Red Wings. H(y)r reports: Seeing vintage boots like these it’s no wonder Red Wing has been around for over a century.  Blackbird of Seattle just got them in and they look amazing even after logging who knows how many miles. They’ve been been worn in nicely thanks to various prospecting ventures to the Yukon and California, or at least I’d like to hope. Regardless of where exactly they’ve been, it’s given them the wear a lot of us are looking to put into a fresh pair of 875’s without having to put in the 50 years of work. The leather has been scuffed a little, the colors have faded near-perfectly and the laces are nice and worn in and look great. Not exactly an ideal piece of summer footwear but boots like these don’t come around everyday so this might be your only chance. The soles all look to be in good enough shape to give you at least a couple more years of wear too.

Everyone knows The Generic Man has changed the game when it comes to progressive designer footwear. Its newer division, Generic Surplus, which debuted its AW 09 collection at the Compass show, gives us really great basics at a great price, while still maintaining a fashion edge and a high level of quality. We thought we’d take a closer look at some of our favorite styles after the jump.

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K-Swiss return to their roots with an updated version of their classic tennis sneaker. The shoes will be made exclusive to Opening Ceremony in a pack consisting of five different colorways. Adding more of a premium flair, this new version will sport luxurious leather uppers, a lighter weight platform, and added comfort features amongst the traditional rubber sole. Available now via Opening Ceremony. (Hypebeast)

Designer collaborations are nothing new, but it seems that combining two labels in one has become a definite trend in men’s shoes, reports Armand Limnander for The Moment: This spring, Raf Simons updated classic Dr Martens, while Junya Watanabe put his own spin on Trickers kicks; for fall, several other designers are also locking step with well-shod partners.  Duckie Brown has revisited Florsheim’s archives to make the all-American brand relevant for a new generation. The new styles include a red, white and blue “patriot boot” that was originally produced to celebrate the end of World War II, contrast-color wingtips and even a studded shoe. 

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