When it comes to summer style muses, Jane Birkin in a pair of woven sandals or plimsoll sneakers strolling around Provence was once the perennial reference. But change is afoot. This summer’s biggest footwear muses include kayakers and barefoot running enthusiasts.
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The most surprising yet desired shoes in fashion right now include rubber flip-flops, neoprene slip-on water shoes and Vibram’s FiveFingers, a glove-like fitness shoe that punctuates each individual toe.
Last week, Lyst released a list of the most popular items being searched for and bought online in the second quarter of 2025. Six out of the 10 top items were shoes, including The Row’s £670 flip-flops (as worn by the Jurassic World actor Jonathan Bailey on the red carpet), faded suede boat shoes from Miu Miu, mesh-style jelly slippers and those aforementioned toe-pocketed shoes from Vibram, whose fans include the rapper Doechii and Blackpink’s Jennie.
Welcome to ugly shoe summer. Dal Chodha, a lecturer at London’s Central Saint Martins fashion school who as a teenager wore Nike Air Rift trainers featuring a split toe, describes the trend as “polarising”.
Dal Chodain in Vivobarefoot’s Achilles sandals. Photograph: Chloe Mac Donnell/The Guardian
“There is so much numbness to how we consume each other’s style today,” he says. “I relish the jolt of somebody going ‘what’s that?’ or seeing someone balk.”
Now, he favours Vivobarefoot’s Achilles sandals that splinter and frame the big toe from the foot’s other digits. “I like when a shoe makes me question if something is good or gets me out of my own taste bubble. Ugly shoes are provocative.”
During Copenhagen fashion week, which wrapped up on Friday, weird shoes dominated the streets and catwalks.
Havaianas’ Zellerfeld flip-flops. Photograph: Chloe Mac Donnell/The Guardian
At OperaSport, models wore plastic flip-flops that had a rounded toe cap, the result of a new collaboration between the Brazilian brand Havaianas and the 3D printing company Zellerfeld. Rave Review added tufts of deadstock fabrics and ribbons to pairs of track-and-field running trainers from Puma, while Nicklas Skovgaard styled bouncy tulle dresses with black patent heeled clogs from the orthopaedic footwear brand Scholl.
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Chanel wellingtons. Photograph: Chloe Mac Donnell/The Guardian
Outside the shows, there was everything from battered and buckled knee-high biker boots to trekking trainers from Merrell and Keen Uneeks – a fusion of a braided sandal and canvas trainer topped with a bungee cord toggle. Rubber wellingtons from Chanel, kitten heels with visible spongy insoles, embellished Crocs, ghillies-style dancing shoes and various cross-pollinated ballet flats including “sneakerinas” and “jellyrinas” were also in abundance.
But it was the toe-spreading styles from Vibram, which start from £105, that were most favoured. Fia Hamelijnck, a Dutch-based creative director, originally bought hers for a hiking holiday. Now she wears them to the supermarket, gym and fashion shows. “I can see people’s eyes widening as they spot them,” she says. “They are ugly. But I like that. It is unexpected.”
The catalyst of the divisive trend can be traced back to Maison Margiela’s split-toe tabi shoes, inspired by 15th-century Japanese thong footwear and first launched in 1988. After a viral TikTok in 2023 about a woman’s Tinder date stealing hers, the style entered mainstream conversation. Now it is as ubiquitous as a pair of Converse trainers.
“Part of the original charm of a tabi-style shoe was to freak people out,” Choda says. “Today they don’t really repulse any more. So people are looking to push that needle even further.”
Twenty years after the Italian company Vibram first launched its barefoot styles, searches for secondhand pairs on Depop are up 296% since April. Balenciaga’s Zero shoe consists of a 3D-moulded sole with a logoed big toe enclosure. Khaite’s backless mules include a peep hole that exposes the wearer’s big toe, while Tory Burch sells sliders with an inbuilt metal big toe ring. On Thursday, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami launched a range of colourful cutout sliders bearing his signature grinning flower motif at Selfridges.
Margiela tabi shoes. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy
Ruby Redstone, a fashion historian and owner of the fashion store Mess in New York City, says “weird” shoes have always been in fashion, pointing to medieval flats with exaggerated pointed toes and elaborate French Rococo-style embellished heels as examples.
Of course, like beauty, ugliness is subjective but Redstone says there has been a noticeable change in how people classify “what a flattering or functional shoe is” with “a craving for something even weirder and in the know”.
“Ugly is such a contentious word,” adds Choda. “These type of shoes are usually used by those who don’t want to conform to trends or even gender norms. The irony is, they have now become a trend in themselves.”