Ballet Flats and Embellished Sandals

The embellished sandal is back after a long stretch of bare, minimal footwear. Crystals and studs now sit on straps instead of hiding on a clutch or an earring. The Amina Muaddi Gigi thong sandal is the clearest version of that idea, all shine and no apology. Set against it, the Row's leather ballet flat argues the opposite case, that a flat shoe can carry a look on shape alone. Together they frame the two directions this season is actually offering, decorated or stripped down, with very little in between.

Ballet flats have picked up texture instead of staying in plain leather. Crochet and mesh read as summer materials, porous and a little undone, which keeps a flat shoe from feeling too prim. Magda Butrym's crochet ballet flat leans into that softness, while its embroidered mesh counterpart does the same in a lace-like weave. Alaia's embellished patent leather ballet flat takes the opposite route, glossy and studded rather than woven. All of them prove a flat can hold its own next to a heeled sandal instead of reading as the backup option.

This group is where the mule and the strappy sandal meet in the middle. The Manolo Blahnik Jadaron mule sandal keeps the backless ease of a mule but adds the polish of a proper evening shoe. The Row's Vika sandal, in gold, goes for a single clean strap instead of embellishment, proof that metallic alone can do the work crystals do elsewhere in this edit. A ballet flat in platinum sits alongside them as the flattest, quietest option in the group. The range here runs from barely there to fully dressed without ever tipping into loud.

Khaite shows up three times in this group, which says something about how much of this season's sandal shape it is setting. The Liria ankle strap sandal wraps the foot in thin leather lines rather than one wide strap. The Cage sandal, in dark olive, pushes that idea further with a full lattice of straps climbing the foot. A mule ballet flat in a soft pink from Miu Miu offsets all that strapping with something closer to a slipper. Between the two brands, the range covers everything from barely there straps to a shoe you could wear all day flat.

What ties this edit together is that the flat shoe finally got invited to the party. For years the going-out shoe meant a heel, full stop, and ballet flats stayed in the daytime lane with plain leather and no decoration. That line has blurred, crochet, mesh, and embellishment now show up on flats the same way they show up on sandals. If you take one thing away, it is that texture and embellishment are doing the job height used to do. Khaite's straps and cages, Amina Muaddi's crystals, and Magda Butrym's crochet are all solving the same problem in different materials. I would not treat these as separate categories anymore. A dressed-up flat and a decorated sandal can now sit in the same outfit without one reading as the compromise.