Paris Fashion Week‘s spring ’24 season may be full of slingbacks and ballet flats — just like this fall’s current footwear lineup. But at Loewe, the shoe view is looking a bit different.
At its spring ’24 runway show in Paris on September 30, Loewe put forth a collection of comfort-focused footwear. There were soft loafers and clogs with uppers done in raw leather and low-to-the-ground simple leather sneakers outfitted in the knotted Loewe logo. Yes, there were even some ballet flats to tap into the trend.
But the most surprising shoe on the Loewe runway was a series of sandals with wooden heels. A closer look at the leather shoes revealed a molded footbed insole that curved up instead of laying flat to accommodate the heel.
At once, the heel called to mind an amalgamation of the originator of the footbed sandal: the one and only Birkenstock. While the German mega brand was in no way part of the Loewe show and its footwear offering, its influence was impossible to ignore. Wide leather straps and simple hardware buckles outfitted the sandal.
But the most impactful part was the fact that the molded footbed was attached not to a flat sandal (as is usually the case with Birkenstock and its myriad imposters) but instead to an actual heel. The innovation of a molded footbed on a high heel could have the power to influence an entire generation of footwear, and to further bridge the gap between fashion and comfort shoes. It also speaks volumes that one of fashion’s hottest brands is choosing to veer into comfort footwear, especially at a time when trends are pushing women into pointy-toed pumps.
The molded footbed sandal was done on two different heeled sandal styles, and it was joined by a soft, raw leather clog (also reminiscent of a Birkenstock – the bestselling Boston).
