How the humble flip-flop became the shoe of the summer with unbelievable price tags to match

How the humble flip-flop became the shoe of the summer with unbelievable price tags to match By Shane Watson For The Daily Mail Published: 21:54 EDT, 13 August 2024 | Updated: 22:11 EDT, 13 August 2024 e-mail View comments There is a thing called fashion creep. Sometimes the journey from ordinary to crazily coveted takes years and years and then one day shazam! It’s there on the catwalk, celebrities are wearing it, and what was unassuming and unworthy of being called ‘fashion’ at all has become a white-hot must-have. It will be the sort of fashion that Kendall and Kylie Jenner must be seen in, that costs upwards of £800, and that is all of a sudden the pinnacle of what’s cool and desirable.

And this summer the gold goes to — wait for it — the posh flip-flop. You’re probably thinking — oh, they’re calling it a flip-flop, but it can’t possibly be an actual flimsy, rubber-soled, flip-flop, like the ones I wear to the beach. And you would be partly right.

Some of them — namely Chanel ’s — come in black velvet (£790) or metallic leather (£810) and some are chunkier, with thicker soles and wider straps. Keely Hodgkinson, Team GB ’s 800m gold medallist, was in Marbella this week wearing green Louis Vuitton sliders that retail for a cool £860. Model wearing the £790 Chanel black velvet walks down the runway during the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 Chanel black velvet are on sale for £790 Kendall Jenner wearing £630 flip flops from.