Forget dainty kitten heels or towering stilettos. The sandal to be seen in this spring is the “ugly shoe”: footwear that is hefty, flat and defiantly unsexy.
Seen on the catwalks of Céline, Prada and Givenchy – and on celebrities including Alexa Chung, Rebecca Hall and Lauren Laverne – the ugly shoe trend encapsulates a variety of styles, from Céline’s neoprene pool sliders to sequinned hiking sandals at Prada and Marc Jacobs to luxe, floral Birkenstock-inspired sandals at Givenchy. All are united by an emphasis on chunkiness and comfort. Easy to recreate inexpensively, using rubbers and velcro, ugly shoes are big news on the high street, too.
“We haven’t seen such a fast-moving trend in flat shoes for a long time,” says ASOS.com senior footwear buyer Polly Thrussell. “Last year, 5% of sales in flat shoes were driven by chunkier silhouettes. This year we have planned for 60%.” Read more..
