'I feel you may have gone too far,' my husband stated when I presented the latest addition to my wardrobe: a chunky platform mule, made entirely from rubber and covered in crystals.
I don’t exactly disagree. For years, I swore I’d never succumb to the Croc. I think most people are firmly on one side of the fence when it comes to these moulded monoliths, and yes I know they’re comfortable, but so are literally hundreds of other shoes that don't look as though they've been carved from an old tyre.
I appreciate that my opinion places me in the minority here (everyone from Arianna Grande to Priyanka Chopra has seemingly come round to the Croc), but unless you’re taking the bins out, I’ve never understood the appeal.
Until now. Simone Rocha – a formidable designer I very much do understand – has challenged my firm stance on fashion's most controversial shoe. Rocha’s collaboration with the footwear brand, which launches today (April 10), was first revealed on her SS24 runway, brilliantly contrasted against tulle dresses the colour of cupcake frosting and fluid, feminine suiting.
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The collection comprises a trio of signature styles – the platform Siren, the lace-up Quick Trail, and of course, the Crocs Classic – each reimagined in Rocha’s uniquely romantic style. As it turns out, once those clunky, conspicuous nightmares are studded with her signature bulbous pearls and cut-glass crystals, the vibe shifts from off-duty chef and more kawaii cool-girl.
Contrary to popular opinion, we serious fashion people actually love a silly joke: a confusing, even comical approach to dressing with an IYKYK kind of secrecy surrounding it is our current catnip. It's why Miu Miu's nerdy cardigans have secured such cult fame, and the reason hair-covered heels swept along the runways back in February (you laugh now, but the high street will be a cloud of fur and feathers come summer).
Simone Rocha x Crocs
Simone Rocha x Crocs
Simone Rocha x Crocs
Simone Rocha x Crocs
In fact, Crocs has been having fun little flings with big, serious fashion houses for quite some time: Rocha precedes the likes of Christopher Kane, Aries and Balenciaga, all of whom have launched lines with the American footwear giant.
But if anyone can decriminalise the Croc in my eyes, it will be Rocha, a designer with unrivalled talent for stirring the subversive into the sweet, creating puff sleeved dresses and frothy skirts this retired goth can happily wear with chunky lace-ups to the office, pin-thin stilettos to dinner, and now (willingly!) my former fashion nemesis. I may even add a sock.
Of course, as with all of fashion’s most capital-F trends, you will either love Rocha’s Crocs or you will hate them: there will be no post-perching here. On the face of it, the idea of a bedazzled rubber clog for adults is, of course, ridiculous. But aren't all the best things in fashion?
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