News feed
We’ve been waiting for this one. The return of the foot thong. The rubber flip flop. The jandal. The plugger. Whatever you want to call them. Of course, in practicality they never really left, but in fashion they’d been thrown to the dungeon of Trend Castle to rot away forever beside 1cm-fly jeans and shell necklaces.
But all that was under the righteous rule of King Adidas Pool Slide and Queen Gucci Mule. To the relief of our feet (and legs and necklines) that monarchy has been overthrown and the prisoners released.
It’s been more than 15 years since we of fashion slavery last saluted the offerings of summer’s flippy floppy staple. It was the early 2000s when we all started drinking the Kool Aid and bought hundreds of pairs. We literally never wanted to wear anything else. The whole world felt like the bouncy rubber ground-covering stuff on children’s playgrounds. We wore them for so many hours and across so much terrain that our toes became dirt-tattooed at the end of each day. Life was better the thong way.
According to the ethereally chic, magically whimsical and impossibly cool street style looks coming out of the Copenhagen and Oslo fashion weeks recently, this humble shoe is back. Seen worn with satin maxi dresses, floaty skirts, Scandi (well, duh) ensembles and wide-leg trousers the look is easy, fresh and offered in an array of gelato hues (especially yellow).
On the runway for Spring ‘18, ever the trailblazer Isabel Marant delivered wide-set, leather thongs worn with her signature broderie-heavy romance while Michael Kors included nautical-inspired pairs baring likeness to the disposable kinds one might wear post-pedicure.
So Australia, as the adopted home of rubber thongs (because they’re actually deep set in Brazillian fashion history) it’s time to make peace with all those pairs you still have in your wardrobe. The ones that never get a space on the proper shoe shelf, the ones that get stashed in your bag, under your desk and even, alas, left discarded, partnerless in the beach carpark. They’re the ones you’ve been wearing to take the bins out this whole time.
If you’re still unconvinced allow us to remind you that Victoria’s Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio has never ever stopped repping hers. But if you’re already a flip flop convert why not proverbially step it up a notch this season with a kewl designer style (even if paying a few hundred bucks for a pair of thongs seems positively certifiable). They’ll have you clearing your footwear area quicker than you can say “shove over Birkenstock and Reef sandal” finding a well-deserved home on their shelf-throne, right beside some new low-fly jeans and a Puka shell choker.
All hail Princess Flip Flop, Duchess of Summertime.
SHOP NOW
Isabel Marant leather ‘Eckily’ sandals, $474 from Fwrd, SHOP NOW
Tory Burch printed flip flops, $79 from Shopbop, SHOP NOW
Givenchy 4G flip flops, $450 from Far Fetch, SHOP NOW
Ipanema glam flip flops, $36 from Shopbop, SHOP NOW
Tkees patent leather flip flops, $136 from Net-A-porter, SHOP NOW
Havaianas slim black thongs, $45, SHOP NOW
