Step back in time with the return of the Gucci loafer
WE’RE all looking for a quick bump up when it comes to clothes. How can I make myself look more polished, smarter — and on the fashion money — in one easy step?
What’s the single item that will give the clothes I own, and the ones I might buy, instant Now appeal?
Back in the Noughties this could have been an It Bag. Rewind to the mid Nineties and it might have been a leather jacket. But nine times out of ten the bump up is something you wear on your feet. And this year the shoes that will raise your game are a pair of loafers.
In fact, these loafers have been around for a while. It’s nearly seven years since the classic black leather Gucci horsebit loafer for women became the fashion insider’s favourite shoe and now there’s a horsebit loafer in Zara’s spring collection, as well as the furry-lined mule version that had its own waiting list back in 2015 (£49.99 and now £27.99 zara.com).
It’s often the case with ‘lookat-me’ accessories — they build up a following then stick around and some of them take a very long time — literally years — to get used to.
This has definitely been the case with loafers. Forget about the fur-lined mules, regular loafers are not everyone’s cup of tea: too preppy, too masculine, too staid, not to mention far too flat.
BACk in the early Nineties there was a period when girls in my office were wearing men’s Gucci loafers (it was Vogue) with bare legs and short skirts, but I was never tempted.
I didn’t have the necessary coltish proportions, and while I got the point of loafers on them (mannish shoes on Tinkerbell girls equals cute), I knew I couldn’t join in that game.
Loafers fell into the Not Easy To Wear camp. You had to look good first to do them justice, not the other way around. And that’s more or less what a lot of women will have thought about loafers — me included — when they re-emerged on the scene. We get the point, on our leggy, glowing-skinned daughters, but when and how am I going to wear them?
Well, allow me to share my personal penny-dropping moment. It involved a woman standing outside M&S wearing big sunglasses, a camel wrapover coat, black jeans cropped to reveal an ankle and an inch or two of bare leg and, on her feet, black Gucci horsebit loafers.
They might not have been the real thing (I wasn’t close enough to verify), but the point is she looked — I realised in that moment — exactly how I want to look on a bright February day. And it was all about the loafers. Had she been wearing ankle boots I wouldn’t have noticed her.
As it was she looked stylish, glossy and just a little bit cool, like a contemporary Jackie O on a casual day. If you can get all that with a pair of flat, walkable, smart shoes then Christmas has come early for us fashion lovers.
Now, finally, I see the point of these loafers. You must only wear them with cropped trousers or jeans, so that you can see your ankles. Never wear them with a skirt (potentially frumpy) and never with socks (the glimpse of skin is what brings the jet set glamour).
I’m certainly not suggesting we all rush out and buy a pair of Gucci loafers (though it is Valentine’s Day, men!) but the slimmer, almond-toed loafer as perfected by Gucci (£595, gucci.com) is the look we’re aiming for.
There are some great, expensive looking snaffle loafers on the High Street including Dune’s (£75, dunelondon.com) and Massimo Dutti’s (£89.95, zalando.co.uk). Russell and Bromley’s horsebit loafer is pricey (£195, russellandbromley.co.uk), but it can be worn with the back up or down just like the Gucci pair. The ones in Accessorize, albeit polyurethane, look pretty good too (£22, accessorize.com).
The other way to go is chunkier. It’s more casual but can be more flattering as it exaggerates the slimness of your ankles (£150, arket.com).
Still, my money is on the smooth operator. They’ll make you feel like an It Girl heiress. Or maybe an It Girl’s mother.