This week, Balenciaga released its pre-fall 2025 collection. The lookbook’s images, shot on iPhone, came with a few fleshy finger blurs that obscured the lens. But that wasn’t the only nub that protruded from the screen: more striking were the four wriggling little piggies plus a big toe in a disturbingly open shoe. Then again, can you even call that thing a shoe? The footwear, called “The Zero,” barely covered the foot. A shallow moulded EVA sole cradles the heel, along with curvy notches at the footbed that frame the four bare small toes, while the big ole throbbing hallux is wrapped in a cuff like a phalangeal condom to keep it secure. I think of it as a fantastically demented sandal.
Others agree that the footwear is as grotesque as it is delightful. “It’s giving me cursed flashbacks to the Spy Kids thumb people,” fashion writer Emilia Petrarca texts me. “Would absolutely never wear.” Perhaps Petrarca is missing out on becoming one with the Earth in The Zero. According to Balenciaga, The Zero “distills footwear to its essence, bringing it as close as possible to being barefoot.”
Dr. Carolyn Mair, a fashion psychologist based in London, agrees that the French brand is tapping into an intention of shoelessness.“Exposing feet symbolizes imperfection and raw humanity while also evoking a primal connection to nature, aligning with the wellness movement and the search for liberation and mindfulness,” she says. Yet, this foot exposure goes a tad deeper than the sensation walking on soles and ventures into saucy subversion. “Feet have traditionally been private, functional, or even lowly parts of the body, but highlighting them challenges societal norms and taboos, reclaiming them as objects of aesthetic consideration and even fetishization,” adds Mair.
Balenciaga’s footwear isn’t the only toe-minded shoe steadily inching towards us. There is a cornucopia of freakish versions, like the Vibram FiveFinger shoes, which swaddle each toe like a rubber thimble. They have also appeared on the Balenciaga runway in multiple iterations, including a heeled version. (Balenciaga used Vibram once again in their pre-fall 2025 collection.) And for two seasons now, Coperni have put their sleek spin on the FiveFingers, albeit unofficially, while AVAVAV has been going a harrowing route. Their wader-like boots divvy up long toes like French fries.
But showing toes is not just for fashion’s shock jocks. There has been an uptown, expensive spin on going full frontal by way of the foot. Case in point: Khaite’s ever-chic “Eva” pump from spring 2025 has a parted lip sliver to show the toes. There is also the popular peep toe from Alaïa that boasts a square toe and fat geometric V-opening. “The Alaïa ones kind of hide your toe in a mysterious way,” says Petrarca. “Like a little squirrel peeking out of a hole.” More pokey and peeky moments? Tory Burch had some fun for spring 2025 with a bull’s eye gash right on the big toe like a phalanxafied portal. And let’s not forget Phoebe Philo’s unabashed raunchiness this past year when she showed a pair of bare feet with lacquered red toes slipping out of a thong wedger. The designer also went as far as to have barefoot models in images accompanying her most recent drop!
The foot focus feels right in the era where we’ve seen it all: every body part freely jiggles on social media. There’s nothing left to the imagination. As for the foot? It’s a tease by way of the mere digit. Call it kinky! Call it seductive. I once called the foot a “Freudian rollercoaster of ‘what else is there?’” Mair agrees. “As sites of playful subversion, exposed toes make bold, ironic commentary on what is considered beautiful or fashionable,” she writes. “This trend reflects fashion’s ongoing effort to question conventions and blur the boundary between public and private, embracing exhibitionism where nothing is too small or insignificant to showcase.” On that note, it might be time for you to schedule your next pedicure.