The Shoe Trend Formula: Where to Spend and Where to Skip
Watch the Videos: One | Two | Shop My Picks: One | Two | My Shoe Posts
Loro Piana quietly killed the Summer Walk.
The so-called Billionaire's Loafer that came to define Succession-tinged wealth signaling – is out of stock, along with the entire white sole series. Its replacements, the Joan and Anton Walk, dropped the chunky rubber sole for thin leather and moved closer to the ground. Anton dropped the hardware, too. No announcement. No farewell campaign. Just a shift.
That shift tells you everything about where footwear is headed: lower, softer, closer to the foot. And it gives us a framework for deciding where to spend.
Two questions: (1) Is this a moment, or is it a movement? (2) And is the shoe hard to make? The first tells you how long you'll wear it. The second tells you whether the luxury version gives you something the affordable one can't.
Why Chanel's New Pumps Are Worth Studying
Matthieu Blazy's first shoes for Chanel are the strongest argument for luxury footwear I've seen drop this year – they're at the beginning of a long term fashion movement, and they require fine materials and skill to execute.
The glove pump achieves a perfectly smooth transition from cap toe to body. No seam allowance shadows, no ridges, no evidence of the internal structuring that gives the toe box its shape. The heel is ruched and elastic, the topline seamless, and the whole thing reads as a single uninterrupted surface. Getting there requires precise lasting and pattern work that cheaper construction exposes immediately – seam allowances telegraph through, layers shadow against each other, toe boxes look stiff instead of sculpted.
The square-toe pump is even more demanding. The toe is asymmetric: it rises slightly toward the big toe and angles down toward the pinky. That's not a standard last (the three dimensional form that's used to shape a shoe; think mannequin foot). The cap toe transition is invisible, and the binding is clean enough that you'd never know there's more than one layer. In lesser hands, you get hairy tufts at the edge of the calf hair vamp, or seam allowance ridging through the surface.
Chanel pumps with an angled toe shape; COS loafer with a similar hairy surface, but there's a tuft along the top edge of the vamp (lower right)
Both shapes are the opening statement of Blazy's Chanel era. He'll keep building on these silhouettes for years, which means the 2026 versions will still look current in 2030. Long shelf life plus complex execution – that's where luxury earns its price.
At accessible prices, Margaux's Pascale ($365) achieves a similar smooth transition between the toe box and the elastic back. Flattered's Blaise ($275) delivers a soft square toe with a high vamp in goat leather. Massimo Dutti ($200) adds a block heel to a soft ballerina, which is another lowkey cool trend. None of these replicate Chanel's precision, but they execute the silhouette credibly at their price point – meaning, they don't look like dupes.
 $365 |
 $275 |
 $200 |
Skip the Markup on Simple Construction
Flip flops are trending – slim, elevated in leather, sometimes with heels – but there's almost nothing to construct. A leather thong on a sole. The luxury version does give you nicer leather and a more refined sole shape, but even with those factors, you'd still be in flip flops. There isn't a commensurate refinement upgrade with the extra cost. Reformation's Jessie ($148) has a padded sole and a leather-wrapped post. Tkees ($65–85) come in skintone-matching shades. Havaianas ($34) outlast other rubber options and keep slim proportions. None of these demand the precision that justifies a $930 Row price tag.
 $148 |
 $65 |
 $34 |