Riley Keough gave the clear shoe trend a more architectural Cannes read on Friday, arriving for the “Soudain” competition screening in Alaïa’s Invisible Thong Sandals.
Riley Keough wearing Alaïa’s Invisible Thong Sandals at the competition screening red carpet of “Soudain” during the 79th Cannes Film Festival Cannes on Friday.
Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
The actress and filmmaker attended the red carpet as a guest during the 79th Cannes Film Festival in a black patent pair from the label, taking the transparent-heel idea away from the PVC mule and into a sculpted wedge.
Keough’s $1,690 Alaïa pair kept the front almost bare, with a glossy black thong strap between the toes and a second patent strap angled across the foot. A slim buckled ankle band wrapped above the heel, while the 90mm plexi wedge gave the sandal its sculptural side view.
Riley Keough attends the “Soudain” screening in Alaïa thong sandals with a clear wedge.
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Instead of a standard stiletto or a fully clear block heel, the sandal had a black patent frame around a transparent plexiglass wedge, leaving a large cutout effect through the heel. The shape gave Keough’s pair more weight than the barely-there clear sandals that have been circulating this spring, but the open front and clear insert kept it tied to the same see-through shoe conversation.
Keough wore the sandals with a custom black Alaïa dress, built with a strapless bodice, a thin gold belt and a gathered full skirt that opened around the front and sides. The dress gave the shoes more room than a floor-length hem would have, letting the angled thong strap and wedge show against the red carpet. The look was styled by Jamie Mizrahi.
A closer look at Riley Keough’s Alaïa Invisible Thong Sandals in Black.
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The Alaïa silhouette has already turned up once at Cannes this week. Hannah Einbinder wore the same clear-wedged silhouette for the “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” photocall just two days prior, pairing the black wedge with a similar, pared-back silhouette from the French luxury house.
Gillian Anderson, Jane Schoenbrun and Hannah Einbinder, who also wears the Alaïa Invisible Thong Sandal, at the photocall for “Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma“ on Wednesday.
Earl Gibson III
The trend has been building outside Cannes, too. Keke Palmer wore Paris Texas’ clear-strap Lidia mules to the “I Love Boosters” premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, while Zoë Kravitz took the look into animal print territory earlier this month in Saint Laurent’s fall 2026 PVC slingbacks at Anna Wintour’s pre-Met Gala dinner.
Alaïa Invisible Thong Sandal in Black Patent Calfskin. Retail price as of writing: $1,690.
Alaïa
The appearance followed Keough’s sheer Chanel spring 2026 look one day earlier, which put her in the middle of Cannes’ dress-code conversation. “It feels like the birthplace of so many incredible films and filmmakers and careers,” Keough told WWD of the festival, and this week she has treated Cannes as a place for less expected fashion choices, too — first in sheer Chanel, then in Alaïa’s clear wedge sandals.
