Fashion month’s hub of footwear moments happened at Milan Fashion Week, where key runway shows mingled with the many accessories presentations that took place over the concise week of events.
Like New York Fashion Week, the ballet flat is a sure trend for spring ’24, but Milan had other footwear highlights, too.
The kitten heel mule continued to resonate, particularly at Prada, where slightly squared-off toes were paired with lower heels, while higher mule pumps had the same knife-edge pointed toe that has prevailed for the current fall ’23 season.
There was also plenty of texture, in raffia and other woven materials, plus a growing number of caged styles — a silhouette that could extend into next season.
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Here, Milan Fashion Week’s top 10 shoes for spring ’24.
1. Prada’s colorful mules
Continuing its run on the ladylike shoe, Prada updated its must-have fall pump by adding bright colors — yellow, orange, hot pink, chartreuse and red — all done in satin. The winning option was a kitten heel mule, done with a square-off toe and a rectangular heel that gives the shoes some geometric lines. There’s no doubt that this will be an “It” shoe come spring; maybe even more so if they add a Prada triangle to the toe, as the brand is wont to do these days.
2. Gianvito Rossi’s gilded gladiators
The designer’s Roman Empire-inspired collection provided a welcome point-of-view in a sea of somewhat ambiguous ideas and expected trends this season (we get it, the ballet flat and the mule will rule). His golden gladiator sandals depict laurel leaves, done in an embossed technique for added texture and a 3D effect that climbs up the legs. This is a shoe that shows craftsmanship and ingenuity.
3. Bottega Veneta’s woven mules
Creative director Mathieu Blazy continues to dazzle fashion fans with artisan leather innovations from the Italian fashion house, and this season was no different. Among the intrecciatos this season (done in an even more delicate version this time on boots and heels), a pair of raffia mules with a wide toe bed and cylindrical heel was woven with the utmost precision. And like everything else in the spring ’24 collection, the heels are begging to be touched.
4. The Attico’s disco flats
Leave it to The Attico to make a ballet flat look sexy. At the brand’s spring ’24 runway show — its very first since launching the brand in 2016 — designers Gilda Ambrosio and Giorga Tordini took their runway to the Milan streets, where models walked in the brand’s new Grid slingbacks. There was a 105-mm heel done in black suede webbing with tiny mirror embellishments. But the ballerina has the same va-va-voom as the heels — and the rest of the feather-tinged, cargo-covered and sheer-gown-laden collection.
5. Alexandre Birman’s interiors-inspired heels
Fashion’s synergy with architecture and interiors is no secret (see the recent Salone de Mobile lineup for expanding proof). For spring, Alexandre Birman found its own connection to the design world with Casa de Vidro and Instituto Bardi, the foundation dedicated to the work of Italian-born, Brazilian-based Modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi.
The Bola sandal from the capsule is like an upside down version of Bardi’s famous Bola Chair. Its brass arm knobs are transferred to
6. Aquazzura’s denim slingback
There are many denim shoes for spring ’24 — and even more slingbacks to choose from for the season. But Aquazzura’s hits the right note on both. The denim-coated kitten heel give the shoe a fuller look, and braided crystal detailing is a welcome standout in a sea of plain shoes this season.
7. Jimmy Choo’s optical illusion boots
There aren’t many boots being shown for spring (see you later, Swifties and Beyhive), but Jimmy Choo’s black-and-white-striped Blake boots with a zig-zag pattern are bold enough to carry the whole season. Done with a pointed toe and wedge heel, it’ll be styled with a pair of cargos or some of those hot pants that walked the runway — all to say, it’s not a quiet luxury look.
8. Fendi’s scrunched ballerinas
There were plenty — and we mean plenty — of ballet flats to sift through during Milan Fashion Week and NYFW alike. The ones that stand out have some sort of unique detail, whether it’s a strange hybrid shape or a fishnet or mesh material (though the latter is fast becoming too ubiquitous to be unique anymore. Fendi’s version for spring ’24 is a study in simplicity, with some glossed leather in classic neutrals (and some pastels), accented only with a single, gold anklet attached at the heel.
9. Gucci’s platform loafers
It’s no secret that Gucci got a rebrand through its new creative director Sabato De Sarno, who brought back a crimson red as its color iconography and laid the groundwork for a new fashion direction that focuses more on shape than accoutrements (though there was still plenty. Joining tailored jackets and retro hot pants, one of those key shapes came in the form of a super-high platform loafer. Done in a flatform shape on the Gucci’s signature Horsebit loafer, it’s a welcome step up from the ballerinas this season — one needs options, after all.
10. Ferragamo’s Calypso sandal
The advantage of anyone working in the house of Ferragamo is the access to its massive footwear archives. This season, creative director Maximilian Davis chose the Calypso heel, a style dating back to 1955 that features a banana caged heel. The shoe was the perfect match for a spring ’24 ready-to-wear collection in which Davis fused Italian and Caribbean dress codes, including the former’s Arte Povera movement.
