Comfort definitely seems to be a trend in fashion at the moment after a full year of non-stop loungewear. This is rather contrary to the past history of trends, which has first and foremost prioritized fashion over for function. Since their inception, Crocs have been heralded as a sign of the fashion apocalypse — they’re a polarizing pair of shoes that you either love to wear or love to hate. Crocs harken back to simpler times of shoes worn while running around the elementary school playground during recess or walking around puddles in the water park during the summer. These multi-color, porous blob clogs have somehow found new life in the midst of a pandemic when people have cared less than ever about their physical appearance. Now in an ironic twist of fate, Crocs have become something of a fashion statement.
This is a case of something being so ugly that it actually looks good. We’ve seen this same pattern in trends come from bucket hats, boyfriend jeans, tracksuits as well as everybody’s favorite forms of streetstyle and athleisure … and honestly when you have the option to wear a pair of ill-fitting high heel shoes and a pair of sensible, spongy shoes that actually feel good on your feet, the choice is pretty clear-cut.
Many designers, such as Kanye West and Pyer Moss, have seemingly borrowed from the idea of Crocs’ blob shape and tried to recreate it in an aesthetically pleasing manner, but Crocs at their very affordable price point have overtaken other spinoffs. With a variety of colors, styles and Jibbitz charm accessories, Crocs have become the shoe that you can completely personalize to yourself, while also unquestionably retaining the appearance of the Croc brand.
Crocs has since developed platform shoes and shoes lined with fleece as well as ‘luxury’ collaborations with the likes of Balenciaga, Barney’s New York and KFC. As they’ve gotten more popular, we’ve seen Crocs enter top-tier placements, such as Nicki Minaj in hot pink crocs with rhinestone Jibbitz, Saweetie in white studded platform Crocs, and Questlove wearing gold Crocs on the 2021 Oscars red carpet.
Even famous pop singer Justin Bieber has his second collection coming out with Crocs as a collaboration with his clothing company Drew House. While we have many people embracing these fashion enigmas, we do still have people like Victoria Beckham, popularly known as Posh Spice of The Spice Girls and a fashion designer herself, who will not succumb to the social acceptance of this trend. When Bieber sent his Crocs collab to Beckham, she went as far to say, “I think I’d rather die but thank you anyway @justinbieber.”
Even if Posh has taken a (rather iconic) stance against Crocs, it is clear that they’ve made their print on the fashion community. For the time being, the hotly-debated shoe will just have to remain a fashion trend that some of us will agree to disagree on. If it’s your style, keep calm and Croc on.