Kylie Jenner Is Raising the Stakes on Flip-Flops

Kylie Jenner’s summer of flip-flops just got a lot weirder. After sticking to your standard flip-flops during a getaway in Italy last month, the apex influencer has decided to delve deeper into the dark flip-flop arts with some eye-popping pairs.

During a photo shoot for her fashion brand Khy, Jenner slipped into two whacky sandals, including a pair of towering 5-inch stompers. The all-black pair is from the Venice Beach label ERL (a favorite of Jenner’s boyfriend, Timothée Chalamet) and is available to pre-order for $375. Although skinny, thin-soled silhouettes have been popular this summer, Jenner’s version nods to the ludicrously high silhouettes that dominated early aughts mall culture. The model paired her towering shoes with a black bra and low-waisted athletic pants.

In another photo from set, Jenner traded her height-enhancing ERLs for an equally controversial pair of thongs. She wore Maison Margiela’s Tabi flip-flops, a $400 style that riff on the brand’s cult split-toe boots and Mary Janes. Like the label’s closed-toe styles, they are marked by that trademark division down the front and are designed with a padded strap. Jenner styled them with an off-the-shoulder bodysuit from Khy.

While summer is always the perfect time for simple sandals, this season has seen an abnormally high number of celebrities getting in on the trend. In early July, Jenner donned another cult sandal—The Row’s “City” flip-flops—while in Tuscany with her daughter, Stormi, and close friends. The style (which retails for $890) is rather unremarkable to the naked eye. But fashion girls, including Jenner’s older sister Kendall, have taken a special liking to the status symbol this summer. Jenner paired her The Row sandals with a patterned waist scarf and white trousers.

And with her pairs of statement sandals, Jenner showed that there’s nothing wrong with flip-flopping into freak footwear territory before summer comes to an end.