Earlier this week, Jennifer Lawrence was pictured walking through the blustery streets of New York in a long winter coat and functional, navy slip-on mules. A few years back, I might have wondered what the actor was doing in these strange, homely shoes. This time though, I zoomed in. Hmmm, maybe I’d also like some plain, borderline ugly slip-on mules. I started scrolling online for options. It was 6.15am.
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The slip-on mule (or “clog”, depending on the thickness of the sole) takeover has been subtle but impossible to miss. A couple of months ago, I noticed my colleague Joy Montgomery at her desk in shiny, minimalist leather clogs – they’re gorgeous, quite utilitarian. “For me, the secret to its success lies in the structured round toe, which is perfect for balancing out my favourite baggy jeans,” she wrote at the time. “I plan on pairing them with slouchy tailored trousers and a boxy leather jacket, for easy office polish.”
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She’s not the only one. I was informed last month that the fashion set had become enamoured with a certain pair of French gardening clogs (they look a bit like wellies with the legs sawn off). I think I’ll leave those to the 21-year-olds, but apparently they’re in high demand among the sort of people who Lime bike from New Cross to The Spurstowe Arms and have mid-century modern vinyl racks. I, too, have seen variations on the slip-on mule in the wild. The other day, I saw someone in Sorel X Proenza Schouler’s Caribou mules by the alternative milk section in Dalston’s Harvest.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the fervour for this very minimalist shoe came from. I sometimes wonder whether it’s the convergence of a few things: a move away from trainers and towards smarter alternatives; an evolutionary offshoot of the boho clog trend; the trickle down effect of the sleek nothingness of The Row. When it comes to the gardening clog specifically, Daniel Rodgers points to Bode’s autumn/winter 2020 catwalk, where it appeared before “becoming an anti-It shoe in Brooklyn, getting covered extensively in New York’s fashion magazines, and now spreading into London”. And last year, Bella Hadid was pictured in the aforementioned Caribou mules (and we all know what happens when Hadid wears any shoe, ever).
I like to sit out plenty of shoe trends (you will never, for instance, catch me in a mesh ballet flat – they are essentially just nets for the feet). This one though? As someone who adores comfort and simplicity above all else, I am very much on board. If it’s good enough for Hadid, etc.
