Flip-Flops Are Coming Back. It’s Going to Be Okay

That was my ethos one evening this past May when I walked into the mall, beelined to a sports store, and in a shocking turn of events, bought the same pair of Adidas slides I’d owned 20 years ago. This time (I vowed silently) I was going to wear them in the cool, casual way I’d seen my aunts or friends’ older siblings pull off. This time I was going to let my love of the nostalgia outweigh my hated of flip-flops. This time I was going to wear what I want.

And I’m not alone. Over the last few months, we’ve seen a rise in #controversial trends of yore, thanks to paparazzi darlings like Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner resurrecting thong sandals (which conjure memories of every club ever circa 2005), who’ve evoked the horror of looks we’d disavowed as we became older and wiser.

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The thing is, with nearly two decades between the new millennium and now, we’ve grown into our personal approaches to style, and tend to know what works and what doesn’t. So in the same way you won’t roll into a merger meeting in a backless dress and visible thong (or maybe you will—what do I know?), you also likely won’t pick up thong slides just because a few celebrities have worn them. Instead you may be inspired to try something you’ve never seen worn before, especially thanks to the relationships we’ve cultivated with celebrities via social media.

After all, the start of the noughties brought with them a warp-speed introduction to blog culture and the way we cover celebrities. But the '10s have leaned into general commentary over criticism, and we tend to converse about choices instead of commanding a person to dress in a particular way. There’s less of a “hot or not” angle, since we’ve come to understand that fashion is personal—so personal, in fact, that often we’re privy to what celebrities are wearing because they’ve chosen to share their outfits with us on their personal channels, as if they’re our friends.

Everlane The Form Thong Sandal

ASOS DESIGN Wide Fit Florence Leather Flip Flop Sandals

COS Stacked Leather Flip-Flops

Plus, fashion is also fun. It’s self-expression. It’s a means of amalgamating the parts of one’s self and attempting styles you may not have been brave enough for in their original heyday. Or, in the case of some (hello), retrying the trends you feel you didn’t get right the first time: Growing up, flip-flops were my desperate attempt to seem beachy and laid-back despite being neither of those things. Often I defined myself entirely by singular pieces that aligned with personality traits I was desperate to have. Flip-flops weren’t allowed to be simply shoes—they were a testament to who I was trying to be.