2025 was a big year for freaky footwear. Margiela Tabis and all of their dupes ruled trend discourse, flip flops returned and remained as the shoe of the summer, jelly shoes also made a comeback. Vibram Five Finger shoes started showing up on feet in NYC subway cars and on the streets of Paris and Copenhagen. On the runway, clear shoes were offered aplenty, as well as sandals with built-in toe rings, anklets, and more. It may have seemed like the summer of the foot—in reality, it was merely the summer of the freaky shoe.

Chanel Cruise 2027 / Chanel
Chloé Spring/Summer 2026 / Launchmetrics

This summer, however, is firmly the summer of the foot—nay—the foot fetish. Once an obsession relegated to a certain type of sexual proclivity, the bare foot has become a full-blown norm in today’s society, and the newly-liberated foot fetishists are rejoicing. There are still two relatively normalized foot camps in society: those who find most, if not all, feet unsexy and undesirable, and those who are perfectly happy to be around a good foot. But what happens when feet go from being tolerable to desirable? Are we witnessing the year that foot stigma is finally banished, or are we just experiencing another phase of body trends?

This year, feet have become a focal point of our outfits. On recent runways at Spring/Summer 2026, and Cruise 2027 shows alongside the men’s Spring/Summer 2027 season, we saw plenty of examples of this. At Paris Men's Fashion Week, feet were clad in see-through PVC Oxfords at Saint Laurent’s Men’s SS27 show, while at Dries Van Noten, embellished flip flops were the highlight of the footwear offering. Chanel Cruise 2027 memorably created a viral, sole-less shoe with nothing but a small heel and an ankle strap. For Coperni’s SS26 collection, the brand collaborated with Barreletics on the Grip Sock, while Balenciaga’s Barefoot Zero shoe from 2025 still hangs in the mind. Loewe’s SS26 collection featured clear rubber princess shoes, while at Calvin Klein Collection, it was all about simple, single strap sandals with a blingy toe embellishment. But it’s not just what we have been wearing to protect our feet from the streets this year—it’s also about how we’ve been accessorizing them.

Saint Laurent Men's Spring/Summer 2027 / Launchmetrics
Coperni Spring/Summer 2026 / Launchmetrics

Last year, Leandra Medine Cohen released a jewelry collaboration with NYC based brand, Aflalo. A best-selling piece was a diamond engagement style ring—only for your toes. Since then, brands like Chan Luu and Simuero have come out with their own version of toe rings so that the foot-forward girls can adorn the dogs as they wish. On top of this, we’ve noticed an increase in the ever-iconic French pedicure, a style that only a few years ago would have been dubbed as “Eurotrash” has now become a popular request at plenty of NYC nail salons. 

Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2025 / Launchmetrics
Instagram.com/simuero

It all makes sense. In an environment where everything is hypersexualized and over-exposed, it’s natural for fashion to find a sense of sensuality in less overtly sexual parts of the body—and what feels more forbidden than a foot? Last year we applied the theory to the butt crack with the return of McQueen’s bumster, and this year we’re going as far south as possible to tap the more subversive side of sexiness.

So…how are you feeling about feet?