How Prada spoils shoes and why UGGs remain an eternal trend. Jan Kedves’ style column.
The first shoe: Boo! The second: Yay! Both are from the same brand. It’s bizarre how the Milanese luxury brand Prada is selling both the ugliest and the most beautiful shoes in the just-ending 23/24 winter season. The most beautiful one is called “Diapason”, you probably have to call the beefy cowhide low shoe a Derby, but on top of that there is this beaded seam all around, as you know from moccasins or the Clarks “Wallabees”. An extra-fat, upwardly protruding rubber bead is placed on this seam.
A completely useless ornament that seems somehow out of place, but almost practical, like a quote from sportswear. It would probably have a similarly irritating effect if you stuck a fat Porsche spoiler on a Rolls-Royce, which you never drive faster than 120 km/h anyway.
The “Diapason” is a stroke of genius
Can you walk and run well with the “Diapason”? Good question, unfortunately the author was not provided with a test pair. It’s possible that the rubber bead will squeeze your toes a bit when rolling. Nevertheless, the “Diapason” is a stroke of genius, and it marks a full circle moment for Prada. In the 1990s, with its legendary “America’s Cup” sneaker, the brand was part of the avant-garde of those traditional luxury houses that gradually ventured into the sportswear and sports shoe segment.
Today, when luxury sneakers are really nothing new anymore, innovation can only lead in the other direction: you apply a random sneaker element to a traditional leather shoe. Iconic! The “sheepskin ankle boots” from Prada are all the more disappointing. If they weren’t so expensive (1,290 euros), you would have to call them a cheap UGG copy. Sure, the UGG trend is never-ending since UGG boots became the standard shoe for celebrities who shuffle in front of the paparazzi in Malibu “unstyled” with a Starbucks cup and thick sunglasses as if they had just slipped off the sofa.
Paris Hilton, J Lo, Bella Hadid. There have already been luxury versions of the uggly slipper boots from Bottega Veneta, Chloé and Balenciaga. But they were more alienated. At Prada, only the sole has a slightly coarser profile, the rest looks virtually identical. As if someone on the finance floor had said that it would be stupid not to cash in on the UGG trend, and two minutes later the “design” was finished. Suggestion to everyone who thinks they have to buy these ankle boots: Instead, take normal UGGs (150 euros) and the “Diapason” (990 euros), and donate the remaining 150 euros to a good cause.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 2/2024.