Pool slides are the unlikely footwear winners of the pandemic: celebs like Hailey Bieber love the simple, casual footwear
- Shoes, like most fashion trends, went casual during the pandemic, and pool slides are a prime example
- Gucci, Valentino and Balenciaga are making luxury versions, and celebs such as Hailey Bieber have been seen in them
Since the pandemic began, the distinction between what you wear in public and private has slowly faded away. Now, it’s no longer uncommon to see sweatpants or stretchy shorts on the streets, with a pair of pool slides thrown on.
Slides are a part of the new trend towards casualwear.
“That doesn’t mean it always has to look sloppy,” according to Carl Tillessen of the German Fashion Institute.
“This is a new way of being cool – by emphasising through your clothes that you actually live indoors, but have just stepped out for a moment,” says the expert, who explains that the phenomenon is comparable to when someone puts on shorts in the winter despite the cold.
But slides are not a new fashion phenomenon. Fashion brands such as Gucci, Valentino and Balenciaga have been offering luxury slides for years, while celebrities such as Hailey Bieber have been spotted out and about in the comfy shoes.
Trend expert Claudia Schulz of the German Shoe Institute explains that it started when trendsetters in the big cities discovered Birkenstocks, which until then were not really considered sexy.