The return of jelly shoes and glitter thongs

The fashion world’s fetish for feet prevails this season with barely there and toe-accentuating styles strolling off the catwalk and into the streets.

In April, Kim Kardashian’s label Skims released their “Jelly Shoe”, a clear, sock-like creation encasing the foot in nude-tinted plastic with thoughtfully placed “ventilation holes”. The style, which retailed for $116, quickly sold out.

Kardashian’s water shoes were aptly titled, for jelly sandals and slippers have been making a splash in 2025. The retro style, first inducted into the high fashion world by The Row in their spring/summer 2024 runway show, has trickled down to the ranks of Gen Z, who weren’t even born for the jelly shoe’s first go around in the 1980s.

In May, Jimmy Choo announced a re-release of some of its most iconic designs from the 1990s and 2000s, including a skin-baring silver Glomesh stiletto simply called, “The Thong”.

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The British footwear designer’s re-release was well-timed, with toe-splicing thongs migrating from the beach to city streets in recent years.

At the latest menswear shows in Paris, designers like Giorgio Armani, Yohji Yamamoto and Kiko Kostadinov proposed the style as a fashionable option for men, hairy toes and all.

For a more demure take on the trend, peep-toe shoes, offering just a tantalising glimpse of skin, graced the catwalks of brands like Prada, Miu Miu and Khaite earlier this year.