Chanel’s Newest Shoe Isn’t Even A Shoe, And We’re All Confused

On April 28, 2026, Chanel introduced the Cruise 2027 collection in Biarritz, France, which included a shoe that sparked outrage over its unconventional design.

The footwear was quickly labeled “unhygienic.”

The show was the debut cruise collection under designer Matthieu Blazy, who took charge of the French fashion house in April 2025. It was held at Le Casino Municipal to celebrate the coastal town where Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel opened her first couture house in 1915.

The shoe, which looked strikingly different from how they are usually designed, shocked netizens and experts alike.

“This brand lost all its creativity, common sense, and elegance,” one user said.

The show, attended by A-listers like Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton, A$AP Rocky, and Sofia Coppola, opened with a reinvention of Chanel’s original little black dress and expanded to fishtail mermaid gowns and other classics.

Amid the extravaganza, the “heel cap” shoes caught the most attention, but not entirely for the right reasons.

The shoes in question feature only a covering for the heels and a couple of strings to secure the material around the ankle. There is no covering for the instep, ball, or toes.

Photos from the runway went viral on social media as netizens poured in to criticize the shoe's lack of practicality and hygiene.

“Tetanus is about to make a big comeback,” one user said. Another wrote, “Ridiculous things rich folks do and buy.”

“On the most porous part of the body, picking up all kinds of infection while walking on a public street, someone's spit, urine, etc. How goofy are people with money?” a third complained.

“Humiliation ritual bc what do you mean it’s a shoe for just your heel?” a fourth chimed in.

“Wow, the new homeless look huh? Chanel's really gone to the dumpster for its inspiration this time, huh?” said a fifth.

Some argued that it was meant to be beach or poolside wear, since it was part of the Cruise collection.

Hedy Philips, the Senior News Editor of Style at People Magazine, dismissed the idea in her column, citing the temperature factor.

“Have you stepped onto sand in the de*d of August?” she wrote. “I have never run faster in my life than when I tried to make it from the sidewalk to the ocean in Daytona Beach, Fla., in bare feet — and that's only Florida. The sand in hotter climates has got to be diabolical on bare skin.”

Within hours of the shoe's launch, experts voiced their opinions on the trend and the risks it posed.

“This is like a podiatrist’s worst nightmare,” said Dr. Saylee Tulpule, a board-certified podiatrist (foot specialist). “Are we barefoot or are we wearing shoes?”

“So let’s protect her heel with a shoe,” she continued, jokingly. “But then, you know what? If the ball of your foot wants to step on glass or rocks, I guess it’s okay, according to Chanel.

“It’s definitely not a win in my books.”

Nneka O. Meka, another foot doctor specializing in soles, said, “This is what it looks like when fashion people have nowhere to walk, because this is not a shoe. This is the ‘soft launch’ of a shoe.”

“I know this costs a mortgage, or at least somebody’s rent, and that’s the part that really upsets me,” she continued, pointing at the exorbitant prices of haute couture labels. “So now you’re broke and unstable, physically, financially, and maybe mentally.”

“This is not a shoe made for walking,” she added, pointing out the harm it would do to a foot’s plantar fascia and Achilles tendon if stepped out wearing this shoe.

In 2023-24, a wellness trend called “Earthing” or “Grounding” went viral on TikTok, urging people to walk barefoot, claiming that human skin to soil contact was a more “natural” and “organic” way of living. It coincided with the rise of barefoot footwear, minimalist shoes with thin, flexible, or sometimes no traditional soles.

Foot and sole experts had to come forward and dismiss the discourse, strictly warning users against it.

Dr. Sari Priesand, a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), told Michigan Medicine, “I hope people aren't really doing this. But rage bait or not, I would highly suggest not trying it.”

“Keep the shoes on. We’re not Flintstones,” the doctor continued, saying that stepping on foreign bodies like glass, dirt, and other debris can cut or scrape the sole and eventually infect it.

Athlete’s foot and nail fungus were also common risks of going barefoot, and plantar warts could even lead to human papillomavirus (HPV), she added.

Dr. Miguel Cunha, DPM, founder of Gotham Footcare, wrote on his website that the trend can cause plantar fasciitis, a condition characterized by heel and arch pain, and Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, which causes swelling and physical instability.

“Prolonged pronation while walking barefoot can worsen faulty foot biomechanics and contribute to the formation and progression of foot deformities like bunions and hammertoes,” he stated.