Have you ever ever been haunted by a shoe? Not in, like, a spooky method, however in a lost-love, the-one-that-got-away kind of craving. Personally, I have been plagued by jelly kitten heels for 5 years now – and it is all due to Melissa x Y/Venture collab that birthed the sci-fi Cinderella slippers of goals. They had been bizarre. They had been stunning. They had been offered out. There’s been a jelly kitten heel-shaped gap in my wardrobe ever since.
This may sound melodramatic, however I am 99 per cent certain that each different fashion-y and fashion-adjacent individual has spent the previous few years in a jelly-chokehold too. The proof: shiny, plastic-y footwear at the moment are in all places – now not a distinct segment, one-off assertion however the standout hero piece of summer season 2026. I’ve seen them on runways and on the tube; in TikTok movies and in my goals. It is just like the ‘90s over again, solely this time the jelly fever is elevated and a little bit edgier. Chloé’s ruched TPU mules, for instance, appear to be life-sized Barbie footwear, a trick of the attention that is concurrently understated and sort of freaky. Melissa’s newest collab with Ganni is available in ice-lolly shades of strawberry and blue raspberry, with ruffled straps that ship the optimum dose of kitsch.
It is sensible that jelly footwear have reached their sartorial peak throughout a time the place everybody’s eager for extra whimsy of their lives. As we seek for methods to re-inject childlike surprise into the on a regular basis, there’s maybe no higher fast repair than sporting grown-up variations of the garments we wore as a child. Within the ‘80s and ’90s, you’d have been onerous pressed to discover a little one that did not personal a pair of jelly sandals – mine had been pink and glittery, most frequently paired with my beloved Spice Women T-shirt. Now, due to the kitten heel revolution, I can step out in principally the identical outfit and match proper in with the It Women. See: Iris Regulation in these Chloé Barbie footwear and a floral bodysuit, or Tessa Thompson, who paired her jellies with a silk slip skirt and a white tank prime.
