Quilted ankle boots
Do these padded boots belong in our closet now?
Quilted ankle boots on the catwalk for Louis Vuitton S / S 2021, Paris Fashion Week 2020
© Dominique Charriau via / Getty Images
Quilted ankle boots are increasingly conquering the shoe sky. The boot not only made it from the ski slopes to the catwalks, but also made it into street style. But is it really trendy or can it go away?
Rain, hail or snow with these boots you are definitely prepared for a lot. But while the big fashion houses have already run in the trend shoe at the fashion weeks of the world, I don’t just leave this piece in my closet. High time to take a closer look at the upholstered companion. An opinion piece.
Quilted ankle boots: the predecessor
Who doesn’t have them standing around at home? Chunky, thick boots that should have been trendy at one point or another are now lurking in our wardrobes. Only to be taken on a skiing holiday once a year? Which foot in which shoe? That didn’t matter with this fat companion, the color was much more important here. We reached deep into the color palette, only to be unable to see the bright pink a short time later in the snow. But what if this trend – admittedly in a slightly different version – is now making its comeback? Not quite as colorful and not as high either, but at least as bulky.
The quilted ankle boot of the big fashion houses! A fashion sin?
There is no question that this snow boot will keep you warm when you look at it. But it is doubtful whether the shoe will land just as well on the trend line as it does on the ski slope. While Louis Vuitton relied on the shorter version of the snow boot last year, brands such as Prada, Miu Miu and Chloé are following suit this year. The pillow-shaped ankle boots always have one thing in common: They look like a mixture of padded slippers and the sterile, typically blue surgical shoe covers.
Quilted ankle boots on the catwalk for Louis Vuitton S / S 2021, Paris Fashion Week 2020
© Peter White via / Getty Images
So what convinced stars like Viola Davis, Florence Pugh and Sophie Turner about the new snow boots for their street style? If the slip-in boot has two things to offer, it’s comfort and warmth. While the fancy fashion factor clearly gets a red light here, comfort must have brought the shoe from the catwalk to street style. But since when have head designers like Nicolas Ghesquière and Miuccia Prada put comfort over looks?
Have we become label victims?
When I look at this trend, I really only ask myself one question: Would this shoe have been just as successful without the famous label? If the shoe didn’t have a Louis Vuitton signature print or the Prada triangle, would this shoe really have become that popular? Of course, there is no question that the quilted ankle boots have already been imitated by well-known fashion houses of fast fashion production. But would it have worked the other way around? Or do we have here – again – a very clear case of label victims who gave birth to this trend in the first place?
The trend stays with me on the ski slopes!
For me it is very clear: No matter how often the designers of Miu Miu try to combine the shoe with playful accents with an evening dress, these fluffy slippers will not make it into my wardrobe. And while Chloé is desperately trying to revive the snow boots from the past decades in the 70s style, I have full confidence in my fashion intuition when it comes to style and consciously leave this trend behind me on the ski slopes.
Sources used: instagram.com, own research