Eight pairs instead of a wall of shoes. The mix leans classic with a modern edge, which is the throughline in what you gravitate toward, and Cult Gaia fits right in. Check heel height and how far each one walks before the label.

This edit rides what is moving in shoes on Phia right now. The same instinct runs through Cult Gaia, Staud and FARM Rio here: recognisable shape, quiet finish, nothing that dates in a season. The versions I picked are the plainer ones in each label's line rather than the loudest.