Your Shoes Are About To Get Freakier

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Would you willingly slip into a pair of rubber flip-flops, set on a heel and studded with supersized crystals? How about some mules that segment every single one of your toes into an entirely separate entity? Welcome to the era of the freaky shoe, where ugliness is the order of the day.

The boom of the weirdo shoe can be largely traced back to one design: the Maison Margiela Tabi. This split-toe boot, inspired by ancient Japanese designs, has lived in its niche for years, but recently, it’s exploded in popularity – so much so, OG followers of the brand have been left bereft at the loss of their insider smugness. The once-divisive Tabi has since welcomed ballerina and flip-flop sisters – as well as a close cousin by Nike – all of which can now be seen en masse outside any East London pub garden.

As this traditionally divisive shoe dips its cloven toes into the mainstream, there’s an opening available for the official shoe of the fashion freaks: and brands are rising to the challenge.

Simone Rocha has just launched her fourth collection with Crocs (this time there’s Frankenballerinas), while Loewe has entombed a blue scuba sock in transparent PVC. Earlier this summer, creative director Matthieu Blazy released the only Chanel shoe that will ever be half-off.

Historic designs are enjoying a comeback too. Vivienne Westwood is welcoming the second coming of its iconic Nineties Pirate boots (according to fashion search engine Lyst, hits online are up 28% MOM), while Isabel Marant’s wedge Bekett trainers have been spotted in the ELLE offices for the first time since 2011. And there are new names to discover: Lili Curia and Damaya make masochist-ish heels for grown-up goths, while Dirt challenges our concept of good taste with designs that are completely unplaceable (yet selling out fast).

'We’ve had Balenciaga’s almost shoe-less Zero, Chanel’s half-shoe, Jeffrey Campbell’s Pieds-Nus and Loewe’s sheer styles, all playing with the idea of how little shoe you can actually wear and still call it footwear,' says Lyst’s Curation Manager Barbara Janeczek. 'Then, you have Havaianas turning the most democratic shoe imaginable into a kitten heel with a toe cap,' she says, referring to the brand’s viral new launch. 'These aren’t simply "ugly shoes" any more: they’re challenging the anatomy of a conventional shoe – exposing, dividing or framing the foot in ways we’re not used to seeing.'

On social media, freaky shoes are lurking. Mandy Lee, the content curator that coined the term in 2025, is wearing Tory Burch's pierced sandals and Miu Miu's cutaway sneakers on repeat, while creatives Lydia Pang and Isamaya Ffrench are among the fans of Miista's lace-up Lena boots.

So, what in the Irregular Choice is going on? Shakaila Forbes-Bell, fashion and consumer psychologist and founder of Fashion Is Psychology, sees strange shoes as an accessible fantasy. 'Fashion has always offered escapism, and I think “freaky” shoes are particularly appealing at a time when so much of our aesthetic world is becoming polished and predictable,' she says. "There’s also a status element to breaking the rules, for example: a 2014 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that making a deliberate act of non-conformity by wearing an unusual shoe can make someone appear more confident and unafraid to think outside the box."

Tyla Grant, creative strategist at MØRNING, sees the rise of the unconventional shoe as a form of quiet rebellion. 'There's an undercurrent of resistance to conservatism and traditional values, chasing the thrill of defiance in a harmless way," she says.

And as Janeczek says, there’s also a little fashion one-upmanship involved. “Once everyone gets comfortable with the weird thing, you have to find something weirder. The definition of a freaky shoe keeps getting more extreme, because fashion has an incredible ability to normalise the previously unwearable. The Tabi is the obvious example: once shorthand for fashion eccentricity, it’s now so ubiquitous in fashion circles that a split toe barely registers as strange.”

So the freaky shoe isn’t a rejection of taste, but a marker of it. Of course, there's subjectivity at play here – one woman’s dream shoe will be another’s abject terror – but what many of us are feeling in the age of AI-flattened homogeneity is that looking bonkers is more appealing than looking basic.

'Being into weird fashion is a public display of taste,' agrees Grant. "It's become easy to overcome the old cultural barriers of gatekeeping, and AI and algorithms churn out more of the same, so taking a risk to wear the 'right’ weird fashion is a cultural signifier. We saw it with tabi-style shoes: as they trickled into the West, they were viewed as strange, then the fashion insiders successfully turned Margiela's tabi into a status symbol. In the shadow of that shift, tabis have become a popular design choice, and sit so close to the edge of "normy" that wearing them doesn't capture attention like it used to.'

To wear an ‘ugly’ shoe is to rebel against the rigidity of taste in the age of the algorithm: as everything starts to look the same, things that run against the grain feel fresh and deliciously rebellious. Freaky footwear connotes conviction in your own style. It suggests your taste has been informed consciously and critically, calcified by a brain that hasn’t been fed a beige slop of boyfriend sweaters and matcha lattes. You’ve curated the culture you consume, rather than opting for the ready meal.

And of course, a decidedly ugly shoe is a perfect way to rebel against the neat lines and stuffy restraint of quiet luxury. After several years of having sensible minimalism thrust upon us, more and more women are seemingly ready to unbutton the cardigan and unleash their inner freak. In the end, it’s only a matter of time before your most unsettlingly strange shoe falls victim to social-media saturation, condemned to the same fate as the Tabi. When that time comes, remember: you were wearing it before it was mainstream.

Roberta Schroeder is the Senior Ecommerce Editor at Harper's Bazaar and ELLE, overseeing shopping strategy and content across fashion, beauty, and travel. She has more than 15 years of experience in the luxury sector, spanning personal shopping, editorial consultancy, trend forecasting and journalism. Over the years, she has worked for global brands including WGSN, Farfetch, Chanel, and Vogue.

When not testing beauty products, trialling trends and curating content that spotlights the very best in fashion and beauty, Roberta can usually be found trawling resale sites and vintage stores for a long-coveted designer find. Follow Roberta on Instagram at @roberta__schroeder