Mulling over mules for A/W’15

Mules are what you get if you combined a high heel pump with a slipper: a backless shoe that is usually close-toed, although in recent seasons we’ve seen open- and peep-toed options. First worn in the 18th century by noblewomen—evident in Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s oil painting, The Swing, the shoe’s status was reduced to becoming the go-to footwear of prostitutes by the early 20th century.

After Marilyn Monroe reintroduced it in the early 1960s, mules saw a popular comeback during the 70s and 80s, and then reinvented as slides (the open-toed version of mules) in the 90s. S/S’15 runways saw a more elegant, elevated version of mules, and recently, A/W’15 equivalents saw a more creatively-spun direction to this footwear—from Thakoon’s boot-like mules and Sophia Webster’s lace-up sequinned mules to Gucci and Maison Margiela’s fur-engulfed, feet-covered mules. 

{insert gallery tpl=”slide-freesize.tpl” id=”Mules” rid=”3286″ order=”a_tstamp”}