What's old is new again pt.2
the important return of mules and other breaking news
Nothing will ever remind me how much trends have their foot on our necks like the Gucci Princetown slide. Specifically the fur ones. I can't think of a shoe with more potential to get ruined while simultaneously having so few realistic scenarios for wear. It's that exact mix of inconvenient and unwearable that's ripe for a well-executed marketing blitz.
In high school I knew a girl who was dating a considerably older man; the relationship wasn't a transaction but it also wasn't not a transaction, if you know what I mean. He bought them matching pairs while shopping at Barneys, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately, the love story ended in tragedy when they broke up and she LEFT THEM at his house. Disaster. I didn't want to be gauche but my first instinct was to ask why she wouldn't wait until after she got the shoes back to break up with him. This is the chokehold the Gucci slide had on me.
My dad's girlfriend had a cousin who worked at Bergdorf's so I got a pair of (hairless) Gucci slides with the rose appliqués for half off (oook hi sale). It was a classic example of being blinded by the emotional part of shopping and not considering when you'll actually wear the item—I took the slides home and proceeded to wear them practically nowhere for 10 years.
As someone who never wore a loafer, let alone a backless one, working these girls into my day to day was a feat, and honestly, I never got it quite right. The Princetown style was re-introduced in 2015, when I was in college. I went to state school in Madison, so I left them at home for the off season, but when I was home in December it was too cold, and when I was home in summer it was too hot.
I promised myself I'd find the time! Occasionally I'd break them out for a dinner where I was walking two blocks as a hail mary. Laura Reilly always considers her items in terms of cost per wear, and I will say these are probably still pretty costly.
Time went on and the items that were so obviously Gucci (i.e. the belt under my bed right now) became undesirable—a symbol of trying too hard and missing the mark. I sometimes looked at the shoes and couldn't believe I spent $890 on a shoe with an Ed Hardy-looking rose patch. At the same time, I knew I just had to wait long enough for them to be so out they were back in.
And so it is.
The other day I saw something that reminded me that what’s old always becomes new again; A Gucci Princetown mule featured on the “New Season” page of Mytheresa (I wrote this so dramatically… it’s not that big of a deal).
What's in a mule? A well-made mule acts as a girdle to the shaft (...?) of the foot. Without that confident hold on the midsection you’ll see too much tension on the toes mid-stroll; which of course leads to you just sloshing about and sounding really ugly while walking.
Are leather mules exclusively mid-spring corporate-adjacent work shoes? Maybe. They would never make the cut as one of four pairs of shoes brought on a beach or city vacation; frankly, they're not that comfortable or useful.
But it’s because of their few uses and occasional comfort that a mule gives big “fuck you pay me” energy. I love that about them.
Mules are hot girl summer but not because they’re hot. It’s pretty obvious that mules weren’t made for the male gaze; the heel is not out in a sexy way, but rather as a forgotten piece of the puzzle. An, “oops we ran out of material” situation. IMO- this is a powerful move in the fight against the patriarchy. Our feet are not here to PLEASE you but rather shatter that glass ceiling.
The fight rages on!
Mules on, ladies !!!