Designer barefoot shoes are everywhere and I love it
Anatomic, Animal Toe, FiveFingers, Tabi, Toy. Why fashion world's obsession with wide toe boxes and low drops makes me happy
I have a love/hate relationship with shoes. My feet are very wide and I have a problem with my toe joint which has been making my shoe shopping a nightmare since I was a kid: everything was too narrow and restrictive. I was mostly wearing and expressing myself with sneakers (my favorite ones were Reebok InstaPump Fury which now have a re-birth with Kei Ninomiya collab) until a couple of years ago, when I started getting more and more into fashion and sneakers no longer did it for my personal style, narrow heels and flats couldn’t be a replacement and the question of shoes became more urgent and acute.
One of the first “designer” shoes that would fit me were Margiela tabis. I remember the first time I tried them in Milan in 2021 because it was also the first time I actually went into a “luxury store”. I was super scared and nervous, super quick, tried two tabis and run away from the store now with a dream. These shoes were wide, didn’t crump my toes and made a statement. I loved everything about them but the price (I had yet to discover you can buy tabis secondhand or on sale ). I later stumbled across a quote by Martin Margiela from the “Martin Margiela: In His Own Words” (2019) documentary, which explains why the house has so many great shoe designs:
For me, with a silhouette, the most important details are the shoulder and the shoe. Everything in between I fill up.
Luckily Margiela didn’t invent the tabi and I soon found an alternative: the Bita-V tabi sandal by a Japanese brand Suicoke that I got on a Ssense sale for 60 euros. These became my everyday shoe and Suicoke became a brand that combined comfort, fashion and occasional affordability for me.
Suicoke uses Vibram soles, a high quality staple in the industry used by many brands. But Vibram doesn’t just do shoe soles, they also specialize in minimalist/barefoot shoes: they are characterized by a thin sole that doesn't restrict the movement, a very wide toe box, and a natural overall shape of the shoe (one of the more radical examples of that are their patented FiveFingers, that separate each toe).
This FiveFingers model entered the fashion scene through numerous collaborations, the most notable being with Balenciaga. Since FW20, Balenciaga has been collaborating with Vibram on various FiveFingers designs, this marked the beginning of a new chapter in the "ugly shoe renaissance," which continues to evolve each year. While I can’t call Balenciaga’s FiveFingers a minimalist or a barefoot shoe (c’mon, it’s still a 3 inch heel!) it delivers more comfort to the feet than the regular narrow pointy toes.
After Balenciaga, Vibram (and Suicoke) made many, much more true to the barefoot philosophy, but less viral FiveFingers collabs with Japanese designers: the Soloist (in 2021, 2022 and 2023), Doublet and Midorikawa (both in 2023 and 2024).
I first saw the Midorikawa painted nails collab (what a perfect addition to the toes!) in Hong Kong and fell in love with them. A similar painted nail effect was seen on shoes before, for example Trompe l’Oeil “Pedicure” heel by Celine in SS13.
Luckily, not many people felt the same way and the Midorikawa collab survived till the biggest sales twice which led me to getting not one, but two pairs! With these shoes I do feel like I’m barefoot (which has its advantages and disadvantages) but overall they are very comfortable, and make my outfits more unique, unconventional and it’s a great conversation starter.
But even if not so radical, for the past couple of seasons I see more and more minimalist shoes on the runways.
Last year Balenciaga also released Anatomic shoe line with mules and heels that are quite wide and resemble a shape of the foot. With the exact same name, Anatomic design is now a classic in Maison Margiela’s sub-line MM6 that they’ve released from season to season in many models: clogs, ballerinas, boots, heels, etc.
I don’t even want to start mentioning Maison Margiela tabis, as they were everywhere for the last couple of seasons.
Jonathan Anderson recently released beautiful wide “Paw” heels, derbies and moccasins in his own brand (they now started to appear on sale and I’m waiting for a bigger price drop to get a pair of moccasins).
Similarly visually but with a different concept, Vivienne Westwood’s “Animal Toe” became a classical style for the brand since it was introduced in SS00, and in SS20 the brand released a new collection with the same motif.
Approaching the theatrical, designs such as the Animal Toe shoes have become symbolic of the house, sublimating their purely functional role.
These revealed a likeness to fauns or even the lion’s paw of a mythical creature. There is a sexual tension between the shoes and the body beneath, as the foot appears to press its imprint into the leather.
A couple of days before the Loewe show Jonathan Anderson posted a screenshot of his discovery feed on Instagram where there is a (typical for the barefoot community) post about regular shoes constraining the anatomy of the foot, which makes me believe Jonathan didn’t just take an inspiration from the visual of the barefoot philosophy like Balenciaga did but is determined to finally marry barefoot, comfort and fashion.
During the show all the models were wearing a ton of different minimalist friendly shoes, a line that’s now called “Toy”. Looks like all my shoes will soon be from Loewe!
Another interesting appearance of the minimalist shoe collaboration came from Issey Miyake in SS24! This time in a more conservative form of a barefoot New Balance sneaker (with Vibram sole), which can be almost undistinguishable from a regular shoe, yet, with a very wide toe box and thin sole:
A sleek new collaboration between Issey Miyake and New Balance returns to the ‘barefoot’, minimalist running sneakers of the 2010s, promising a feeling of ’sensuous physicality and barefoot mobility’, according to Issey Miyake designer Satoshi Kondo.
Other “near the barefoot” examples include the Row and Alaïa mesh flats both featuring a very thin sole and no cushioning but I think they are too narrow to fully embody the barefoot philosophy though pretty minimalistic.
So yeah, I’m no longer bothered that I don’t fit any Prada, Lemaire or Jil Sander shoes, I know Jonathan Anderson, Maison Margiela and Vibram have me covered and I hope more brands will release not just beautiful shoes but also ones that are not painful to wear.
A great breakdown of what’s worthy on the barefoot market! I’m not into the style myself (although the wide Loewe boots look great), but I’m a big Suicoke fan, their sandals are very comfortable!
oh my god THANK YOU FOR THIS the way i have been scouring the internet for non-barefoot shoes/ wide toe box shoes is ruining me (no shade to barefoot shoes, i just want them to be cute too) !!!! everyday i get one step closer to pulling the trigger on the tabis or the anatomic flats................
my current go to is the nike air rift and I adore them!!