I was influenced.
I saw the ugly shoes pop up on the Instagram stories of one of my favorite Instagram accounts, Chris Loves Julia. I thought, “Wow, those shoes are so ugly.” But then you know how it goes: after you see them for the first time, you see them everywhere. They were popping up all over my Instagram. Mostly on super adorable GenZ’ers.
It was probably a combination of things that lead to them landing in my Amazon cart: late-night scrolling, fatigue, curiosity, and recently reading that I was considered a geriatric millennial. I clicked order and the shoes were on their way to me along with re-usable silicone boba straws, vitamins, and dry heel lotion.
I turned 40 this year and I have loved every single second of starting this new decade. 20s are intense, expensive, and confusing. The 30s are defining, full of pressure, and exhausting. I feel like the tides have shifted since I’ve crept closer to 40. I’m completely comfortable doing my thing and letting others do their thing. In a text thread with some of my favorite people on earth, we recently discussed the term cheugy. We all decided that we were all inevitably becoming cheugy, even in fashion, and we had zero cares about that fact. This is the freedom of getting older. It’s delightful.
HOWEVER.
When fashion and comfort collide, I’m 100% all over it. I feel like I can sniff out these fashion mash-ups from a mile away. These slides were definitely giving off a fashion/comfort vibe, and I was here for it. When they arrived and I slipped them on, I knew they’d be the only things on my feet this summer. If 2″ cloud foam is wrong, I don’t want to be right. They feel like you’re hardly wearing anything at all. Or as one friend described it, “hugs for your feet.”
A big question is, “What do I wear with these?” My dear friend Emmy (who is nearly 20 and is the best dressed) helped me understand how to style them. Leggings or bike shorts, paired with a giant t-shirt, or baggy sweatshirt. Remember what you wore in 9th grade? Yes, that. Boom, done. (Don’t forget your scrunchie.) Since this is my daily wardrobe anyway, I knew these slides would fit right in.
Yes, I know they are ugly. But friends, they are fashion. When something this comfortable is the style, luxuriate in the comfort of your smart apparel choice. Bless you, GenZ.
UGLY, COMFORTABLE, FASHIONABLE SLIDES
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