This Almost-Barefoot Style Is The Year's Hottest Trend
The most prominent trend right now? Anything to do with, well, feet. People can't stop talking about where to find this season's hottest, freakiest footwear, how to still stand out while wearing closed-toe shoes in the summer heat, and whether toe rings are really making a comeback. Fashion trends come and go, often in the form of It bags and soon-to-be-forgotten silhouettes (the peplum revival is still waiting patiently in the wings; see: Phoebe Philo's Sugar tops). However, it's rare to see a single body part hold such autonomous power in the sartorial conversation.
Out of the top ten hottest items of recent months, six are footwear, including the Vibram Fivefinger shoes (a distant cousin of the Nike Air Rift), Ancient Greek Sandals, Iro ballet flats, and The Row's pricey Dune flip-flops, which surged in popularity after Jonathan Bailey conspicuously sported a pair on a red carpet in London. The closer your foot is to the ground, the better, and extra points for flashing your toes. There's something so nonchalant about balancing an outfit with the an unexpectedly informal shoe—it also signals that you can piece together a look from top to toe.
Interestingly, Katie Lubin, VP of brand and communications at Lyst, believes that The Row's hype has never been more widespread, and points to the footwear trend as proof. 'They've hit the sweet spot where minimalist aesthetic meets maximum cultural cachet, creating products that function as both wardrobe staples and status symbols,' she tells ELLE. Across the board, searches for flip-flops are up 68%, with customers unsurprisingly favoring COS, Havaianas, and Tory Burch as less expensive alternatives. (Not on the charts, but a popular honorable mention also goes to Tory Burch's wide range of 'pierced' silhouettes, which have taken over fashion girls' feet with full force, offering a bolder statement in the low-key footwear field.)
Also on the 'Hottest Products' list were the Isabel Marant wedge sneakers and Miu Miu's suede logo-embossed boat shoes—two styles that have enjoyed relative longevity in internet years since they began cropping back up in early 2024. If anything, their resurgence, alongside the rise in ballet sneakers (like the Puma Speedcat flats) was a precursor to the footwear-focused trend that was to come.
In other news, athletic dressing continued to reign supreme, with Adidas track shorts coming in at number three, no doubt thanks to celebrities like Paul Mescal and Zoë Kravitz, who recently elevated the sporty staple with heeled mules and a Saint Laurent bag. According to Lubin, Burberry also enjoyed a bump on the menswear side, specifically when it came to shirting and swim shorts. Earlier this year, the British brand once again returned to its roots for a festival-inspired campaign starring Cara Delevingne and the Gallagher family—proof that celebrity-endorsed, brand-driven nostalgia can still be enticing in today's fashion sphere.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cosmopolitan
2 hours ago
- Cosmopolitan
Nicole Kidman's Daughter, Sunday Rose, Appears on First Magazine Cover
The eldest daughter of Oscar-winning actress and producer, Nicole Kidman, and singer, Keith Urban, Sunday Rose has just landed her first magazine cover, and looks exactly like her famous mother. If you didn't know, the teenager has been gracing our screens for sometime, with cameo performances in Big Little Lies and The Undoing. But the 17-year-old really found the limelight last October, when she made her runway debut for Miu Miu's SS25 collection. Since then, she's starred in multiple campaigns for Miu Miu and Omega Watches, and now finds herself on the cover of NYLON's latest issue, wearing a brown leather jacket and miniskirt set from Prada. But whilst her career looks set for stardom, Sunday told NYLON her entry into the fashion world doesn't come without ground rules from her parents. 'There are two big rules. The first was that I couldn't explore any kind of fashion work until I was 16, and the second is that school always has to come first.' It's a boundary which Nicole previously shared in a 2024 interview with Vogue Australia, and which Sunday Rose says she's grateful for. 'At first I hated [it],' she continued, 'but I am actually really glad that I have in place because it keeps me in a good mindset.' In the interview, Sunday also shared her ambitions to follow in her mother's footsteps—proving that the similarities between them extend far beyond their doppleganger looks. 'Filmmaking has actually been my dream career since I was 5, so I hope I'm able to study that in college.' Of course, as with all children of high-profile parents, there are mutterings of nepotism, but Sunday says she's able to keep her parents' celebrity status relatively on the down-low, especially with her peers. 'When people my age meet me, they normally don't know anything about my life, which is sort of wonderful because I am able to make a first impression based on who I am and not who my family is,' she explained. As for the fashion though, she's got no qualms about riding on her mother's coattails. When asked for the one item she borrows from her mother's closet, Sunday Rose said, 'If I had to pick one it would be impossible. I take everything from my mum's closet. I sometimes joke with her that it's my favorite store.' And who would blame her? Next to Carrie Bradshaw's, there's no wardrobe we'd rather rifle through.
Elle
4 hours ago
- Elle
How a Makeup-Free Pamela Anderson Found Power in Her Style Pivot
People often assume that personal style is a rigid concept, set and as unchangeable as our blood type. Really, however, taste—as in, truly personal style—is fluid. It's determined by the ever-shifting sands of our emotions, circumstances, and confidence levels. Just ask Pamela Anderson who is, at 58, in the midst of her most powerful style moment to date. In recent years, she's embraced a subtler interpretation of the Old Hollywood bombshell archetype while also announcing herself as a fashion-loving art woman and barefoot-and-barefaced eco-queen. Publicly, the shift really started to happen around September 2023 when she attended the Paris Fashion Week shows of The Row, Isabel Marant, Victoria Beckham, and Vivienne Westwood (a brand with which she has enjoyed a long-term relationship). The headline? She wasn't wearing any makeup—something she then continued to do while on a press tour for her lauded role in Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl. Awards season was no different—the champagne Oscar de la Renta dress she wore to The Gotham Awards being a particular highlight. Anderson is a woman who was, for so many years, chronically underestimated, seen as little more than a sex symbol. But if you'd bothered to look closely, you'd know she was always a more than that. Even in her pin-up pomp Anderson also always had a good sense of humor, which she'd often express through clothes. (Remember the gigantic fluffy pink hat she wore to the 1999 VMAs? Truly iconic). Now on the press tour for The Naked Gun, Anderson is working with the stylist Bailey Moon. If the Version 1 make-up free Pammy skewed classic, the new-new look has been emboldened with touches of oddity, through gently amplified silhouettes and subtly tongue-in-cheek accessories like a pillbox hat, sheer gloves, white stockings, or mid-century sunglass shapes. These looks toy with, and ultimately reframe, the traditional design language of a pin-up: be it the immaculately cut midnight Thom Browne gown, a Danielle Frankel emerald ensemble, or an ice-blue off-the-shoulder Gabriela Hearst dress. Most of her jewelry has also been Pandora; she is an ambassador for the sustainably-minded Danish brand and it's a meaningful collaboration that speaks to her eco-work. Other looks to note? A polka dot midi dress from Haider Ackerman's Tom Ford, a caped Ferragamo little black dress with a deep V-cut at the back, and an archival Marc Jacobs-era Louis Vuitton lace cocktail dress. There's a glamour, levity, and joy with which she wears each outfit that can only come from the confidence of possessing both style and substance. It's the look of a woman operating at the peak of her powers, living now, and not trying to reclaim the past or become someone she is not. Anderson wrote in a recent edition of her Substack, The Open Journal: 'So much of what I've lived…what I've created—began as a feeling. A shimmer of something just beyond reach…not quite real, but not only imaginary either. It lives in the moments when no one's watching and nothing makes sense yet—but you keep going That is how great personal style begins: as a feeling—not a formula.
Elle
7 hours ago
- Elle
Everyone's Wearing A Personality Hat At Copenhagen Fashion Week - Here's Where To Buy The Best
A look at Copenhagen Fashion Week's street style is a look at our collective fashion future. Seemingly with as much pull as luxury brands like The Row or 'It' girls like Alexa Chung, those sitting FROW at the fashion week have predicted (or dictated) micro trends for many a year now. The rise and rise of flip flops, knitted hoods and, of course, the voluminous dresses that have dominated fashion's recent past – all went through Copenhagen Fashion Week's pressure cooker. And we're sure this season will be no different. So, what are the style stars wearing today, that we're sure to be wearing tomorrow? Personality hats. A term coined by Leandra Medine, personality hats are what they say on the tin: hats that bring a little personality to one's outfit, or that can be used to express one's own personality. Offering a wink to any ensemble, personality hats are as varied as their wearers, with pretty much any style of hat qualifying (including cowboy, boater – heck, even a bandana kind of counts). As of late, front-runners for most fantastical personality hat of 2025 are: pillbox, skull cap, sauna, cloche, bonnet and sailor styles. Fabricated in anything from straw to sequins, they can liven up even the dullest of clothing combinations, and hide a missed hair-wash day, to boot. 'I think that a personality hat quite literally makes you visible in a crowd – it's easy to spot someone with a great hat,' Ruby Redstone, a fashion historian, founder of concept store, MESS, and personality hat-wearer, tells ELLE UK. 'But I also am very fascinated by a cultural return to hats. They haven't been a big part of dress culture since the 1950s, and it's very exciting to see them coming back in a formal way. 'I'm sporting a pillbox hat right now, but my eternal favourite is a sailor hat because I love anything nautical.' And it wasn't just on editors, buyers and influencers that we saw the personality hat at the SS26 shows; the runway was also awash with examples; Caro Editions featured polkadot, wide-brimmed boaters; Iamisigo paraded a host of magical millinery wonders; MKDT channelled The Flying Nun with surreal, wind-strewn scarves; as did Rave Review. But, how to wear a personality hat? We asked Redstone her opinion: 'I like a personality hat that works in harmony with an outfit. I prefer to have one that matches the colours of my look so that it's not too distracting. I do still always want people to see my face before they see my hat.' An easy way to transition your summer wardrobe into autumn, a personality hat may just be the humorous accessory your wardrobe is missing. Be brave, try one. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
