Once upon a time, the worst thing a shoe designer could do was show their toes. Controversial shoe trends that exposed more foot than they hid were labeled as such online, dividing the comment sections of Reddit, Instagram, and X (then known as Twitter) in the process. Early mesh flat shoes had critics, especially urban shoppers, begging them to put their toes away; when John Galliano introduced Maison Margiela's Tabi Shoes from their Japanese roots to the Western public in 1988, only a select group embraced them. Jerry Sandals joined them in the 1990s, as public opinion ruled.

By mid-2024, however, nearly all of street style seemed unanimous in favor of the former extremes of footwear. And Hollywood shoe enthusiasts were leading the charge.

First came the mesh flat shoe trend, which, with the help of Alaia and The Row, topped Lyst's hottest items index for several quarters in 2023. Their versions often graced the feet of Hollywood's elite, Zendaya, Jennifer Lawrence, and Anne Hathaway. [Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's The Row's latticework take on the $890 flat shoe was instantly embraced, again by Jennifer Lawrence, and the sub-stack savvy. The Row's version sold out, along with versions by Coach, Melissa, and Loeffler Randall.

Mesh flats and jelly sandals offered a modern upgrade to Early Oats nostalgia. The old-fashioned versions mixed PVC plastic with floral embellishments and glitter; 2024's were a bit more serious, with solid colors and streamlined shapes that hugged the foot. They were also more breathable in the height of summer and more formal than flip-flops, as a reviewer who was convinced to show his toes pointed out By August, mesh flats and jelly sandals were no longer a controversial trend, but simply a trend. [In September, as the Spring 2025 runway approached, designers decided it was time to push the foot-first principle further. The trend on the runway was naked shoes. Stars like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian were already treating transparent PVC-based shoes as a window for pedicures. (In Lopez's case, she paired her Naked shoes with a flashy leopard coat and a collection of rare Birkin bags.) Brandon Maxwell, Tibi, and Alaia were among the labels that agreed that transparent shoes had a runway beyond the A-list.

No one in the front row at Fashion Week cringed when socks were visible through transparent boots or pedicures were displayed under transparent mules. Rather, the response was, “What she wears, I wear.”

The normalization of the previously controversial shoe trend was not limited to naked styles. From Zendaya's basement socks worn at Nordstrom to Lily-Rose Depp's basement socks and pumps in Los Angeles. Daisy Edgar-Jones exposed her toe cleavage earlier this month in nude pumps with a slit that showed a sliver of burgundy pedicure.

What happened with this year's shoe trend has happened before with ready-to-wear and handbags: the passage of time, increased exposure, and celebrity endorsements have made previously polarizing shoes look, well, normal. Even if they are see-through, if they are wrapped in fabric, the sight of a toe is not so frightening. In fact, some editors found the trend of using underwear as pants and actual naked dresses sexier.

But for the sake of shoe designers and for the sake of hygiene, let's not agree to go completely barefoot by 2025.