Have you ever ever been haunted by a shoe? Not in, like, a spooky manner, however in a lost-love, the-one-that-got-away kind of craving. Personally, I have been plagued by jelly kitten heels for 5 years now – and it is all due to Melissa x Y/Venture collab that birthed the sci-fi Cinderella slippers of desires. They have been bizarre. They have been stunning. They have been offered out. There’s been a jelly kitten heel-shaped gap in my wardrobe ever since.
This may sound melodramatic, however I am 99 per cent positive that each different fashion-y and fashion-adjacent particular person has spent the previous few years in a jelly-chokehold too. The proof: shiny, plastic-y footwear are actually all over the place – not a distinct segment, one-off assertion however the standout hero piece of summer time 2026. I’ve seen them on runways and on the tube; in TikTok movies and in my desires. It is just like the ‘90s yet again, solely this time the jelly fever is elevated and a bit of edgier. Chloé’s ruched TPU mules, for instance, appear like life-sized Barbie footwear, a trick of the attention that is concurrently understated and form of freaky. Melissa’s newest collab with Ganni is available in ice-lolly shades of strawberry and blue raspberry, with ruffled straps that ship the optimum dose of kitsch.
It is sensible that jelly footwear have reached their sartorial peak throughout a time the place everybody’s eager for extra whimsy of their lives. As we seek for methods to re-inject childlike surprise into the on a regular basis, there’s maybe no higher fast repair than sporting grown-up variations of the garments we wore as a child. Within the ‘80s and ’90s, you’d have been arduous pressed to discover a baby that did not personal a pair of jelly sandals – mine have been pink and glittery, most frequently paired with my beloved Spice Ladies T-shirt. Now, due to the kitten heel revolution, I can step out in principally the identical outfit and match proper in with the It Ladies. See: Iris Legislation in these Chloé Barbie footwear and a floral bodysuit, or Tessa Thompson, who paired her jellies with a silk slip skirt and a white tank prime.
