When Matthieu Blazy staged his first resort show for Chanel in Biarritz at the end of April, the internet hyperfixated not on the bags or the celebrities, but on a certain shoe. Or rather, a suggestion of a shoe consisting of only several straps wrapped around the ankle and a flat heel. With the entire foot exposed to the elements, it became the hot topic of conversation. What exactly should the audience make of this style? Is this meant to be worn in real life? Consider it the natural evolution of a recent trend in footwear, with designs getting progressively weirder over the years. From the rise of Maison Margiela’s tabis, as modeled after traditional Japanese split sole socks, to the popularity of Vibram’s five-finger style, it seems like Blazy’s cheeky take is the ultimate evolution of freaky shoes.
This sudden interest in strange footwear comes as no surprise to Elysia Berman, a New York City-based creative director and content creator, but the rationale has more to do with the human form than with the shoes themselves.
“We all secretly have foot fetishes. It has to do with showing parts of your body that are otherwise not meant to be seen by people other than yourself. [Doing so] deliberately feels like a bold, borderline inappropriate choice,” she said.
Drawing parallels to Victorian times, Berman theorizes this current fixation as a reaction to what we’re seeing in fashion at the moment. “Back then showing your ankle or wrist was considered very scandalous and salacious. In this era of being over-exposed physically with people wearing underwear as pants, there are few areas left unseen. Feet might be the final frontier.
Perhaps no one is more fascinated with the rise of freaky shoes than Mandy Lee. The content creator has popularized the term, extensively covering unusual styles on her social media channels. Her most recent haul includes a pair of Phoebe Philo-era Celine white sandals that have partitions that separate each toe as well as the latest iteration of the Simone Rocha x Crocs collaboration. But those Chanel sandals? To Lee, they are the ultimate in her crusade to encourage her audience to go more experimental style. “It’s an unidentifiable, UFO-like alien piece of footwear. Good fashion will make you have a reaction, make you think,” she said in a video.
That if you know, you know attitude that both Berman and Lee espoused to freaky footwear like the Chanel sandal attest to the fact that whatever this design is, it’s less about function and more all about form.
“The [online] backlash is from people who don’t have a sense of humor. Chanel is simultaneously extremely serious and deeply irreverent and it’s that tension that makes it so interesting,” said Berman, adding that she doesn’t expect this to be worn in the practical sense. “It’ll be for a woman who is throwing fabulous parties, not someone who has to walk around in real life.” As for Lee, she wants a pair, if only to hang as a piece of art.
