After a year committed to “fashion flip-flops” – see The Row’s humble-looking Dunes and Havaianas – it’s time to put our toes away. Flashes of the talus and navicular bones (on the upper part of the foot), however, are allowed, as this season we’ve witnessed an uptick in shoes that encase the foot like a décolletage-revealing knit. Their name? The V-neck shoe, of course.
Phoebe Philo, she of divisive shoe mastery, peddled several V-neck shoes during her tenure at Céline, including styles crafted from supple, sock-like leather with angular heels, which debuted for autumn/winter 2016. Matthieu Blazy, meanwhile, introduced new interpretations at the Chanel Metiers d’art show, worn by models who scaled a subway-station-come-runway. Featured amidst a medley of incredible textures and fabric innovations (Blazy’s calling cards), the maison’s iconic two-tone slingbacks arrived with tapered V-shaped uppers – in white/black, black/white, red/black and baby blue/black – and spiked flourishes on the heel straps.
And if Blazy’s versions were for New York women navigating train platforms, then Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’s patent spring/summer 2026 iterations, delving low enough to peek toe cleavage and secured with delicate leather bows, were for after-dark outings. As for Louise Trotter’s scrunched leather Bottega takes, which came knotted at the achilles and elevated with a kitten heel? These would be suited to any occasion that calls for directional comfort.
Like a V-neck sweater, there’s an unexpected practicality to be gained from a V-neck shoe. Grounded in outré sex appeal – and no need for a pedicure – this is a silhouette that will deliver from 9-5 and the hours in between.
