Every season has its shoe trends: and for the past few years, many of those trends have fallen into the “ugly shoes” category.
That’s not just my description, by the way: the whole point of these trends is to be unexpected: to take something previously considered unfashionable, and re-define it, and that’s been the case with both last year’s Birkenstock craze, and the current trend for “glove” shoes.
The glove shoes shown above are from Topshop, and I’ve seen tons of my favourite bloggers wearing these – or shoes just like them. The term “glove shoe” comes from the way the shoe hugs the foot: the high vamp and soft leather should make it fit, well, like a glove, basically, and sure enough, the feedback I’ve heard from the people who wear these shoes are that they’re incredibly comfortable, and a joy to wear.
They’re also, however, frequently described as “granny shoes”. The low, blocky heel, and aforementioned high vamp, are both characteristics normally associated with the kind of shoes you’d tend to see on little old ladies, although these days you’re more likely to see them on much younger women, and being worn as a fashion statement, rather than purely for their comfort and practicality.
So: the question – what do you think of glove shoes? Do you own a pair? Would you buy them? And how are you wearing them, if so? Oh, and if you don’t feel like answering all those questions, a simple ‘YAY’ or ‘NAY’ will do…
Glove shoes: YAY or NAY?
(Speaking of questions, if you have one – or more – of your own, take a look at my new questions page, and ask away! There have been a couple of new questions posted in the past couple of days, and you can see them in the sidebar of the site: I’ll be answering these on the blog at some point, but in the meantime, feel free to click on the link and add your own responses – the more answers we can get, the better!)
Hmmmm I don’t know Amber. I didn’t think of them as granny shoes at all when I saw the picture. I think they are great for a vintage look. Maybe with a nice 50s dress!? But at the same time I see your point, I wouldn’t buy something just because it’s fashionable if I thought it was ugly 🙂
I personally associate running shoes with old ladies because that’s what my grandma has always worn (I wear them too but try to find nicer ones than she has). I think these look really comfortable and cute. The the backs of my ankles are crazy sensitive and always end up getting cuts from shoes with stiff backs, so I’d wear these in a second!
You mean not showing your toe cracks is old-looking? Here I was wondering why fashionable people don’t wear shoes that fit. My toes are short and my feet are wide — if I wore shoes that didn’t cover my toes, they’d be constantly flipping off the front of my foot.
I think people are perhaps taking the wording of this post a little personally. ‘Granny shoes’ isn’t a description I just made up – it’s how they’re being described by just about everyone (even those who love them): it doesn’t mean you look “old” if you wear them, it’s just the terminology that’s being used, probably because for a while it was a style associated with older women 🙂
Here are some examples of other articles about them:
http://the-edited.com/2016/02/01/why-granny-shoes-are-the-coolest-thing-for-your-feet-right-now/
http://www.fashionmenow.co.uk/2016/03/the-case-for-granny-shoes/
http://www.the-frugality.com/2016/01/trend-alert-granny-shoes.html
I’m not objecting to the term “granny shoes” so much as I am commenting on the high-vamp-no-toe-cleavage thing. I honestly did not know that showing toe cracks is a deliberate fashion statement.
My granny wore lace-up black shoes with Cuban heels. I see them on the streets now. I can’t wear heels at all, so I am briefly with it as long as flat clumpy shoes are in style. Being a granny myself, I am past caring about looking “old” as long as I look friendly.
*sigh* I shall try to ignore these the same way I tried to look past Birkenstocks…. >.>
UHHH, YIKES!!!
I’m 59 years young and would NEVER consider Wearing these hideous looking shoes!!!
BTW, I am a grandmother of 5 awesome grandkids and I think even they would be horrified if I wore shoes like this!