Kim Kardashian brought the gladiator sandal comeback into her Broadway producer era on Sunday, arriving in New York to visit “The Fear of 13” in butter yellow lace-up heels and a vintage John Galliano-era Dior dress.
Kardashian’s sandals had a slim open-toe base, with a narrow strap across the toes and a tall, thin stiletto heel. Thin butter yellow cords wrapped up her calves in a crisscross pattern. The color kept the severe lace-up construction from reading too heavy, giving the Roman-inspired shape a softer finish than the black leather, buckled and platformed versions that have also been circling back into fashion.
Kim Kardashian in a pair of butter yellow, gladiator-style heels during a Broadway visit on Sunday.
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She wore the sandals with a pale yellow Dior dress from 1997, designed during John Galliano’s tenure at the French house. The top started with a high, softly structured neckline and short cap sleeves, then moved into a bodice cut from floral yellow fabric and trimmed across the chest with narrow bands of chartreuse embroidery and navy detailing. From there, the dress followed the body into a long skirt with a high slit at the left leg, exposing the gladiator-style shoe.
The shoe choice put Kardashian back inside a look she has already been testing. During her “All’s Fair” promo run last fall, she wore Manolo Blahnik’s Prisca leather lace-up sandals in a dark charcoal metallic finish, tying the straps around the ankle and up the calf with calf-length leggings and a vintage Dominique Sirop haute couture corset.
A closer look at Kim Kardashia’s gladiator-style heels.
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Gladiator sandals have been edging back into view after their mid-2000s peak, when knee-high and ankle-wrapping versions became a festival and celebrity-street-style staple. The return has not followed one clean lane. Latto leaned into a heavier version in March, wearing Vivienne Westwood’s brown croc-embossed Carrie sandals with thick platforms, buckled bands and a high heel while sitting courtside at the Hawks-Warriors game in Atlanta. Coachella’s 2026 shoe conversation also reopened the 2016 festival archive, with gladiator sandals reappearing alongside ankle boots and other Y2K-adjacent shoe silhouettes.
“The Fear of 13,” starring Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson, marks Kardashian’s first Broadway producing credit and extends her criminal justice reform work into theater. The play is based on the true story of Nick Yarris, who spent 22 years on Pennsylvania’s death row before DNA evidence led to his 2004 exoneration.
