The ugly-chic sandal trend has been around for a while now, and despite its—perhaps unfair—moniker, the style shows no sign of slowing down. For this year's spring/summer collections alone, yet again we saw a prominent plethora of chunky, flatform sandals across the catwalks of Marni, Stella McCartney, and Chanel, to name a few.
It might seem surprising to some that such an unlikely trend has emerged in a world that is very much focused on the aesthetically pleasing, but truly directional types love a challenging fashion item—the more initially tricky something can appear, the more these trailblazers will want to wear them.
How to wear them now? Well, with a longstanding spot on shop floors, fussbetts (that's the official German term for these ugly shoes, you know) are getting minor tweaks and updates to make them look more feminine and less clunky. They are now often adorned in colourful gems and rendered in beautiful fabrics, meaning you won't feel as out-of-place pairing them with a pretty dress or using them as a way to pep-up the regular jeans-and–T-shirt combo you rely on come the weekend. And don't forget to use them as a staple during festival season—they're a welcome update from the tricky lace-up and buckle-up gladiator sandals of the past.
However, while we love the incarnations new and old, and even though we rarely listen to what others say about our sartorial choices, there is one section of the population who find them confusing—men. We don't mean to generalise, but the response we usually get is less than positive.
To prove our point, we've asked a select group to comment on the trend to see how they really feel about it. Truthfully, we'll be wearing ours anyway but it's interesting (read: hilarious) to see what they think.
Scroll on to see some of their thoughts on this trend, then keep going to shop from some of our favourites.
"These look a bit like kids shoes, or what my mum would wear to do the garden." — Tom, 33
"With the whole outfit, I think it works well? I know nothing about women's shoes, though." — Matt, 34
"They look like those toweling slippers that some girls would wear to go for a fry-up." — Ian, 31
"Too big and the diagonal strap does it no favours either. Do you want to look like a 10-year-old child? Then wear these." — Joe, 30
"These look confusing and uncomfortable, which draws my attention away from the actual style." —David, 28
Go through the gallery below for our pick of our top ugly-chic sandals.
Will you be wearing your flatform sandals with pride? Tell us in the comments!Opening Image: Wireimage/Getty