So far, this year’s nude dressing trend has given us glimpses of abdomen, butt, and breasts, and in some cases, dazzling flashes. Now the simple mood has come to a perhaps unusual place: her toes.
“I think it was time for toes to become ‘fashionable’,” says Helen Persson, historian and curator of the 2015 V&A exhibition Shoes: Pleasure and Pain. “At different times, different parts of the foot were found attractive and put on display. From the ‘toe drop’ and inner arch of the foot to the soft round heel on backless shoes, why not the toes themselves?
Toes began to excite fashion around 2019, when hyper-luxury brand Row sent slipper socks that resembled ankle-cut five-denier tights down the runway. The translucent tulle look covered the entire foot, but the real focus was on the toes. In 2022, Alaia’s £650 mesh ballet shoes arrived, offering a subtle peephole effect and still having a waiting list. Two years, several iterations, and hundreds of fast-fashion dupes later, we live in an era where foot digits are all about display, from barely-there ballet flats in sheer fabrics to glove-like iterations that punctuate each phalanx.
Toe-baring fashion is risky and limiting territory; The line between sensual elegance and body horror is thin. There are ballet shoes that are translucent and embellished, like the Marcy shoe from Khaite, which has dozens of tiny crystals and resembles a mosquito net that catches ten unsuspecting toes. While see-through rubber flats bring to mind holiday swimming shoes, tight plastic mesh versions can leave your toes looking like a pork loin wrapped in butcher’s net by the end of the day. Despite this, semi-nude shoes continue to attract attention, attracting up to ten figures.
Celebrities like Dua Lipa, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway have been photographed with their toes partially exposed, and while the front row used to be dominated by feet covered in 4-inch stilettos, this fashion month editors have grounded themselves in flats. put your toes center stage. There have even been — shock horror — sightings of Vibram’s FiveFingers, a shoe style often championed by barefoot advocates. As former Vogue editor Liana Satenstein wrote in the newsletter: “Sliding your feet into Vibram FiveFingers is like the ultimate body high, starting with the digits. Spreading your toes in an eagle shape is a constant phalangeal pleasure, and there is a certain Enya bliss when your feet can grip the dirt or pavement hard. Essentially, the shoe is like an orgasmic breath for the foot.”
While satisfying for some, exposed toes are a divisive trend. One person’s podophobia is another person’s podophilia. “Anything can be fetishized, but shoes and feet are two popular objects and body parts,” says Valerie Steele, chief curator of the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum and author of Fetish: Fashion, Sex & Power. The contours of the foot can be thought of as a miniature version of the human body, Steele says. Low-cut shoes reveal “toe cleavage”, while the heel is the back end of the foot. “That’s why wearing slingback heels was considered so erotic. You were letting your ass stick out. They became known as ‘fuck me’ shoes.
Toes may play a central role in fetishism, Persson says. Mesh-style shoes “sensually frame the foot and reveal/conceal the toes; seductive like underwear.” For decades, designers have favored toe-centric designs; most famous is Maison Margiela, whose slit-toe shoes are inspired by Japanese tabi socks. But perhaps today’s proliferation of phalanges can be linked to the wider proliferation of foot fetishes. While social media users defend selling foot photos as a side hustle, photo-sharing site Wikifeet, dedicated to listing celebrities’ feet, receives nearly 20 million views a month. Even Lily Allen has been making money selling her pictures on OnlyFans lately. This is not a new fascination. While ancient Greek sculptures and artworks such as Botticelli’s Venus advocated longer second toes, Steele points out that there was a backlash in the 1930s when people began trying open-toed sandals.
Steele thinks the fact that toes can be shocking reveals the enduring interest in the trend. “I think a lot of the ‘uglising’ of shoes that we’re seeing now often plays with the exposure of the toe or sort of binding the toe or separating the toe in different ways,” Steele says. “A lot of designers want to do things that are unconventional, extreme, and therefore kind of break the rules. “It’s like you have to be cool to know how cool you are.” At the less cool, surreal and humorous end of the spectrum is absurd Russian designer Canyaon, who has redesigned slides to look like a giant big toe.
As for those still on the fence about jumping in with the trend? Schiaparelli has its own foot fan starter pack. Her high heels and sneakers are adorned with golden brass toes, complete with wrinkled metatarsophalangeal joints and painted nails.
To read the full version of this newsletter, featuring this week’s trending topics and solved wardrobe dilemmas on The Measure, subscribe to receive the Fashion Briefing in your inbox every Thursday.