The philosopher Francis Bacon famously said, “There is no exquisite beauty … without some strangeness in the proportion”. Maybe that explains the current fondness for the “ugly shoe” then — arguably 2018’s most extreme fashion trend to date. From Demna Gvasalia’s platform Crocs of cartoonish dimensions at Balenciaga, to comical curled-toes at Loewe; from the plethora of exaggerated “Dad sneakers”, including Louis Vuitton’s wavy Archlights, to the old-school chunkiness of the Balenciaga Triple S, the “ugly shoe” is well and truly having a moment.“Ugly is the opposite of a society saturated with images and ideals of perfection,” says Rebel Royale, the anonymous London-based mastermind behind the Instagram account @crimesagainstshoemanity “It challenges our preconceived notions of what we have been lead to believe is beauty.”
@crimesagainstshoemanity is devoted to documenting your favourite worst nightmare footwear. It is a treasure trove of grotesque shoes, presenting an eye-watering compilation of the most aesthetically-challenged footwear one can find. Mined from the deepest, darkest corners of the internet and lately — given the new-found appreciation for gnarly footwear — straight off the runway, @crimesagainstshoemanity treads a fine line between attraction and repulsion. In fact, Royale started the account two years ago — after amassing a huge collection of ugly shoes images and needing somewhere to put them “almost to relieve myself” — and soon found out, that “there are a lot of people that feel the same combination of intrigue and disgust” as she does.
“In the criminal justice system, shoe based offences are considered especially heinous. These are their stories,” reads the Instagram’s bio. Spanning classic perspex-platform “stripper” heels through ludicrous ice block slippers and nasty denim pool slides, not to mention a truly disturbing sneaker-mule hybrid, there’s something for everyone with a predilection for the hideous here. But, how does Rebel Royale curate her perfectly perverse catalogue — what’s she looking for? “An immediate and guttural reaction. It’s the feeling of ‘why, why did you do this? … To what end?’” However, she’s appreciative too: “I know the effort it takes to make shoes and to see that physical labour go into making something so grim, it really gets to me. But I also love it at the same time.” As for her favourite exemplars of ugly excellence? “I always come back to the Margiela Tabi. They somehow manage to be classy and upsetting at the same time.”
There’s more to an “ugly shoe” though than its visceral effect. Royale maintains that the current “ugly shoe” trend is an anti-fashion statement, carved out of viral culture and the necessity for manufacturing a stirring reaction online. She attributes the “ugly shoe’s” meteoric rise largely to Gvasalia, who she refers to as “a known fashion disruptor”. Although a crazy statement shoe will make you the talk of the room, says Royale, it can also be a small act of rebellion in an increasingly conservative world. “It’s an odd time to be alive. You have people in political power with conservative values who want to pressure people into a beige, oppressed life — wearing something extreme is a small way of fighting back.” We couldn’t agree more — which is why we’ve selected some of our favourite of Royale’s fugly finds for your #FollowFriday delight.