Margaret Qualley Braves the Red Carpet in Chanel’s Naked Shoes

There’s a new kind of red-carpet risk-taking in our midst. Forget naked dressing and trompe l’oeil illusions—Margaret Qualley is raising the sartorial stakes by eschewing footwear altogether. Well, almost.

At the world premiere of The Dog Stars on Thursday, the actress stepped onto the red carpet in a look from Chanel’s cruise 2027 collection that planted her feet firmly on the ground. Her sandals are intentionally incomplete. Dubbed the “barefoot heel cap” by the brand, they feature slight heel support and two small straps that hug the top of the foot. But the fabric ends there, and the toes are left bare. After gracing the runway and promptly going viral back in April, they were instantly met with fear, bewilderment, and debate over who might dare to wear them in real life. Qualley is the first—making the naked-shoe design her own with a matching black pedicure.

While the vanishing sandals were the outfit’s centerpiece, the dress, too, exuded Matthieu Blazy’s particular taste for whimsy. The V-neck design—originally sent down the runway with a gold iteration of naked shoes—was adorned with tiny tassels for a textural fringe effect. The bottom hem was intentionally uneven, only adding to the mystifying allure of the decomposing shoe.

Contentious though they may be, Chanel’s disintegrated sandals serve as a cheeky nod to Qualley’s upcoming film. According to the synopsis, The Dog Stars follows “survivors of a deadly pandemic” on a journey across “a post-apocalyptic landscape.” It is certainly not a trip you’d want to take barefoot. But then again, we’re not all as brave as Margaret Qualley.