As Good As It Gets
Thanks to the return of the ’90s-era glam-slam sandal,
mood elevation just got a whole new meaning.
You can learn a lot from gazing
at the treadmill screen at the
gym while willing yourself to simply keep
going. Case in point: On a recent Sex and the
City rerun, Sarah Jessica Parker spent a
(really) inordinate amount of time cooing over
her new crystal-buckled Manolo Blahniks.
The very premise seems so preposterous now,
and yet...can you remember when obsessing
over shoes was the giddiest of delights—
something not only allowed but encouraged?
There’s something of that escapist feeling
to be derived from spring’s new street-level
fantasias—Dries Van Noten’s glam-rock
platforms, conjured out of the Belgian
designer’s collaboration with Christian Lacroix,
or Prada’s gilded sandals with straps that
entwine and ensnare the foot. Proenza
Schouler’s marigold knotted-satin numbers
have the same vibe, their sheeny lusciousness
balanced with that very au courant squared-off
nineties/noughties toe and an insole intended
to give as much cushion as a sneaker.
“It has the right amount of perversion and
glamour,” say Proenza Schouler’s Jack
McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. “It’s a mix
of high and low in a single item.” That’s the
thing with fantasy, circa 2020: Give in to it, by
all means, but don’t forgo reality.—MARK HOLGATE
FASHION
TWIST AND TURN
PROENZA SCHOULER BRINGS BACK THE ’90s-
CHIC SANDAL ($895; PROENZASCHOULER.COM)
BUT MAKES IT SURPRISINGLY PLAYFUL.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY PETER LANGER.
80 APRIL 2020 VOGUE.COM
DETAILS, SEE IN THIS ISSUE
VLIFE
