My mother was quite strict when it came to sartorial regulations. “You never wear white between Labor Day and the Ekka,” she would say. “Always wear a hat on Melbourne Cup Day.” “Always leave the house with shoes on.”
In the face of the ugly shoe trend, I have to wonder whether mum’s rule regarding footwear is on the verge of being outdated. I’d rather go barefoot.
There are so many hideous examples of over-design in the current sneaker market. Kanye West’s Yeezy range for Adidas is one such design eyesore. It is the biggest seller of the new-shoe labels and has influenced the way footwear is being made.
Once sleek and anonymous, sneakers are now chunky, overtly detailed, cumbersome and to be quite frank, ugly!
I’d rather see the return of those cliff-faced Spice Girl platform sneakers than to see the continuance of this chunky, clunky trend.
Gucci, the once refined Italian label famous for finely made leather loafers is now peddling a Skecher’s styled shoe, criss-crossed in bugled jewels and an oversized tongue. Ugly!
Yeezy’s best selling Boost shoe features a sci-fi like cage mould. And then there is Balenciaga, yes Balenciaga, who are flogging a shoe that looks like it is filled with podiatry cushions.
Thankfully my ugly shoe fears are mitigated by the memory of Maseur sandals and the fact that 80’s trend wound up pretty quickly. Here’s hoping the ugly shoe trend follows suit.