We're All Wearing Weird Shoes

What used to be reserved for questionable pub gardens or post-gym showers is now suddenly runway relevant. The Row’s vivid-soled viral sandals, aka the hottest product in this quarter's Lyst Index. Leather iterations from Auralee to COS. Even the humble Havianna. There’s something subversive about a flip-flop worn deliberately — styled with trousers that graze the floor and a shirt buttoned up with a thrown on attitude.

It’s not anti-fashion, it’s anti-fuss — a rejection of the idea that polished equals proper. Letting a bit of toe out has never looked this considered.

The mule has emerged in recent seasons as the ideal summer-to-autumn transition. You’re not in a full shoe, but you’re not quite out of one either. Birkenstock’s Boston is still the poster child of normcore comfort-meets-style, but luxurious mule options more akin to formal shoes than slippers are frequently appearing in collections for this year and into 2026.

They strike a balance that’s hard to find elsewhere: elegant but not try-hard. Effortless, but not lazy. It's the kind of shoe you wear when laces feel like a chore.

No one saw this one coming, aside from the legions of Tabi wearers whose cloven boots became a signifier of being in the know. The toe shoes — once exclusively worn by those run barefoot marathons — are being reabsorbed by the fashion crowd. It’s the Balenciaga-ification of utility: once something gets weird enough, it loops back around to being cool.

Paired with loose trousers or shorts, Vibrams — which also feature in this quarter's Lyst Index — become a brutalist punctuation mark. They’re not beautiful, but they are confident, which might be even better.

There’s a new category of footwear emerging that defies categorisation, and that’s exactly the point. The sneaker-loafer. The moc-toed runner with tassels or fringe. The dress shoe with a lug sole and a bouncy EVA midsole.

These shoes tap into the current menswear mood — post-category, high-low, half-ironic. You can wear them with a suit. Or with mesh shorts. The versatility isn’t just practical, it’s symbolic. It’s not about dressing up or down anymore, more like dressing sideways.