This unorthodox footwear is a shoe-in to be the hottest in Hollywood this season. Sock shoes — which are, as the name implies, shoes that look like socks — are the controversial footwear suddenly and bewilderingly preferred by comfort-chic-loving celebrities such as Rihanna and Matty Healy. The sight of bare socks hitting the pavement is jarring, to say the least, but has somehow become the pinnacle of minimalist chic.
“It gives good strange,” Amy Smilovic, the founder and creative director of the luxe womenswear brand Tibi, told The Post. The brand introduced its Borg sock shoe in the spring 2024 collection, which Smilovic described as a “natural migration” from the age-old socks and sandals combination. Similarly, Rihanna was spotted in May wearing Bottega Veneta’s $1,100 iteration of the knit socks-with-soles, paired with a matching athleisure ensemble from the New York label Awake NY.
The 1975 frontman Healy was also photographed sporting a pair of the sock-shoe hybrids while out and about in Los Angeles earlier this month. Just last week, Dick Van Dyke, 98, graced the red carpet at Carol Burnett’s handprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in — you guessed it — orthopedic footwear akin to the highly divisive barefoot shoes that are beloved by running enthusiasts. Tibi’s Borg shoe differs from its competitors’ in its shape — the addition of a leather exterior to mimic the appearance of a low-profile ballet flat gives the illusion of two pieces.
