TREND: Until very recently, the world of women’s sneakers was limited to girly versions of men’s kicks or slightly stodgy high-end options made for substance and not really style.
GAME CHANGER: The Isabel Marant Bekket
INSPIRATION: Marant attributes the design to her teenage years when she would put a cork sole in her trainers. “I wanted to keep the comfort of a sneaker while looking taker at the same time,” she says.
RESPONSE: Since Bekket’s introduction three years ago, it’s not uncommon for the shoes to be sold out before they could even hit shelves. Celebrities like Beyoncé and Anne Hathaway have been spotted in them and have turned the name Isabel Marant from a French symbol of contemporary femininity into another obsession for sneaker fanatics. And slews of wedged sneakers have now emerged from big names like Marc by Marc Jacobs, Chloé, and Stella McCartney; further propelling the trend of ultra-luxurious street fashion.
SPECIFICAITIONS: Women are abandoning their conspicuous sky-high platforms for a 2.75-inch wedge concealed in the sneaker and a .75-inch lift at the sole, all-told, lifting the wearer nearly four inches off of the ground.