How the It shoe became the new It bag
Suddenly, entire front rows are wearing the same designer shoes. Why? As the price of handbags soars, fashion houses need to promote a more affordable status symbol
RARE is the woman who doesn’t covet an expensive handbag, or swoon at the sight of a delectable designer tote, its supple leather and gleaming adornments seducing her into parting with her hardearned cash.
And rare is the woman who hasn’t noticed that the amount of hard-earned cash required to purchase said handbag has risen exponentially in recent times. Forget a walletful: it’s a sackful these days.
With designer handbags now routinely costing four figures — €2,900 for Gucci’s Jackie, €3,700 for Prada’s Galleria and an eyewatering €10,350 for a classic Chanel double flap — it’s hardly surprising that women are looking for other, more affordable status symbols to flaunt with pride.
Which is why the female gaze has shifted downwards — so low as to touch the floor. Arm candy? So last year. This season, it’s all about foot candy.
AT Gucci’s cruise 2025 fashion show, held at the Tate Modern art gallery in London last week, one glance at the celebrity guests confirmed that what you have on your feet is far more important than what you have dangling off your arm.
In the same way that festivalgoers are given a wristband, Gucci’s creative director, Sabato De Sarno, had given his VIP guests a pair of chunky oxblood leather platforms, embellished with the house’s signature gold horsebit, to signify their belonging to his tribe.
Gucci gang members including singer Dua Lipa, rockstar Debbie Harry, actress Daisy Edgar-Jones and model Lila Moss were all pictured in the style.
For guests whose tastes tend more towards the tapered, De Sarno had provided an elegant pair of slingbacks — as worn by Kate Moss and Alexa Chung, and actor Idris Elba’s wife, Sabrina.
(Actress Salma Hayek, meanwhile, was alone in wearing a pair of silver platform sandals. When your husband is Francois Henri Pinault, owner of Gucci, you don’t follow the herd.)
By dressing his guests in the same footwear, De Sarno effectively signalled that you, too, can be part of the Gucci gang — and for a lot less than the price of a bag. Although, it has to be said, the word ‘less’ is relative. The platform loafer costs €1,200. Expensive? Undoubtedly. But still a third of the cost of a handbag.
But Gucci is far from the only brand to be directing customers’ attention to the floor this season. A similar trick was afoot at the Miu Miu show in Paris earlier this year, with brand ambassadors for Prada’s ‘little sister’ label paired with shoes that matched their personal style. In the €990 patent leather slingback gang: actresses Hailee Steinfeld, Cailee Spaeny, Nina Dobrev and Aja Naomi King. In the flat shoe camp: actress Emma Corrin and singer Lorde. Other luxury brands prefer to dispense with different options in favour of focusing attention on one style. At the Chloe show in February, the house’s new creative director, Chemena Kamali, was praised for bringing the label’s much-loved boho spirit back.
And she certainly did — right down to the €1,095 black woodenheeled wedges that were near replicas of those originally shown in the early 2000s, when Phoebe Philo was creative director of the brand.
While the wedges, called ‘Maxime’ (like every self-respecting It bag, It shoes also come with their own names), appeared on the catwalk, it was their appearance on the front row that was far more impactful.
A grand total of 16 guests wore the Maxime, including Sienna Miller, Georgia May Jagger, actresses Marisa Abela and Kiernan Shipka, French model and actress Clémence Poésy and Seventies icon Pat Cleveland.
With their legs crossed just-so, their unilateral choice was a powerful endorsement of the shoes; an arresting visual signal that, in advertising terms, was far more obvious than the presence of any handbag.
That’s the thing with shoes — and why they’re increasingly important to luxury brands which spend big bucks ensuring the right brand ambassadors are seen at their shows. For unless you wear them with trousers or floorskimming skirts, shoes are always highly visible.
Handbags can be tucked under arms, squashed under chairs on the front row or obscured under outerwear, but there are no such hiding places for footwear. Pair the right shoes with the right wearer and the impact is stronger than that of any arm candy. And nowhere was this more effectively demonstrated than at the Saint Laurent Spring/Summer show.
Arriving for their photocalls, front-row guests Demi Moore, Kate Moss, actress Zoe Kravitz and France’s former first lady, singer Carla Bruni, were pictured without a single handbag among them. Where, you might ask, had they stowed their lipsticks and smartphones? Well, certainly not in their €975 Blake slingback stilettos.
That all these celebrities were wearing exactly the same style was highly impactful, hammering home the message that foot candy is this season’s delectable treat of choice. Yet while they might all be wearing the same shoe, guests had been carefully styled to suggest the many different clothes customers could wear them with. Saint Laurent’s slingbacks looked just as good with Zoe Kravitz’s polka dots as with Kate Moss’s black mini.
Shoes have always been an important finishing touch of any look, of course. But after years of trainers, the pendulum was bound to swing towards something —
anything — that isn’t a pair of well-worn sneakers.
But for those who became accustomed to their ease, comfort remains at a premium.
So it’s significant that luxury brands are mainly dressing their front-row guests in low-heeled slingbacks, platform wedges and loafers — since for many women, towering three-inch heels are now a bunion too far.
At Gucci’s London show, almost every look on the catwalk was paired with flat Mary Jane ballet pumps, proving that the popular style is set to continue well into next season.
In 2024, the most covetable accessory is both chic and comfy — and, no, you won’t be wearing it on your arm.