To wear one’s slippers out of the house might once have suggested a descent into madness – or, at least, a bout of extreme forgetfulness. However, a recent resurgence of the slipper on the runway has seen such connotations turned upside down, suggesting that the ultimate luxury is to wear your inside attire outdoors.
As such, the slipper has come to encapsulate a kind of louche, undone elegance: there have been playful riffs on the hotel or spa slipper at Balenciaga and The Row, shaggy, cocooning mules at Rick Owens and Dries Van Noten, while historic Parisian shirtmaker Charvet’s calfskin suede mules – constructed so as not to make a single sound when the wearer walks – have enjoyed had something of a renaissance.
Prada’s S/S 2025 menswear show
At Prada’s S/S 2025 menswear show, the classic fringed monk strap shoe was mashed up with a razor-thin-soled mule for an unexpected take on the formal slipper, evoking the kind of strange desire that has long been Prada’s modus operandi.
Gently scuffed in appearance as if to suggest wear, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons said they wanted to create pieces that looked like they ‘have lived a life, that are alive in themselves. We wanted to make this about what you want to wear now.’
A version of this article appears in the April 2025 issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on newsstands from 6 March 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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