The world’s ugliest shoe is making a comeback.
We’re not talking about Birkenstocks, or Crocs, or Uggs.
We’re talking mules. See? Even the name is awful.
If you’re under 25, chances are you haven’t encountered the mule before.
In short, they’re the sartorial version of a mullet; business at the front, party at the back.
If clogs and heels got together and had a baby, that’s what you’d get. Open-backed, often (but not always) closed-toed and impossible to walk in; the one good thing about mules is they hide chipped nail polish.
If you’re torn about the mule, chances are Sarah Jessica Parker has something to do with it. Carrie Bradshaw stepped out in open-toed pair in the first episode of Sex and the City.
Mules began popping up on runways two years ago, and the latest catwalk shows saw influential designers like Givenchy, Alexander Wang, Victoria Beckham and Mary Katrantzou all sending models clomping down the catwalk in them. And that’s the thing about mules, you don’t walk, you clomp.
Former Paris Vogue editor, Carine Roitfeld is not a fan. “Mules, I’m sure, I will never wear,” she told The New York Times. “I hate mules. I hate the noise when someone walks with mules. Clomp, clomp, clomp. I think it’s very not chic.”
Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, who dedicated most of the 80s designing mules (so I guess he has to run with it now) has the opposite view.
“When you walk in mules,” he observes, “you walk a bit differently.”
