It is a truth universally acknowledged that poolside slippers with socks are the most inexcusable fashion choice of the century. False. This Spring/Summer of  2014 has pulled the trend out of the 90’s and thrown it back into the limelight, baffling fashion magazine readers and writers everywhere are knocking “the return of the Jelly Sandal” out of the playing field.

 

The likes of JW Anderson and Isabel Marant have featured the audacious trend in their SS14 collections but it doesn’t end there. Chloe and Celine followed suite with their modernized yet elegant renditions with metallic detail and even some blue fur. The high street brands get the message right away and original designs from Zara now provide a cheaper alternative to Chloe’s “Celeste” sandals. Whistles have gone all the way with a gladiator sandal hybrid, sported in varied and striking metallic hues by the models in the early March issue of the Sunday Times Style magazine.

 

 

As I saw this trend emerging, I couldn’t help casting my mind back to an editorial shoot with the appropriately named model: Bambi Northwood-Blyth photographed by Robert Wyatt way back in March 2013.The shoot was a quaint documentation of a Californian-style summer house shot by the pool and in various rooms with models posing as Bambi’s grandparents, modelling as if they were oblivious of being photographed, in the background. The shoot was naturalistic, eliminating clichés of pool side holidays with its subtle connotations of 60’s fashion.  It showed the more casual side of the summer-house life, where glamorous accessories (wedged sandals, strappy bikinis and St. Tropez cover ups) are not needed. A year later and I feel as if this atmosphere, captured in Wyatt’s shoot, has been recreated in this year’s reinvention of the 90’s adidas pool sliders.

 

It’s another common yet comfortable item of apparel cleverly disguised by designers as the new bold fashion statement. Perhaps for this reason, the pool slider trend is so baffling to us. Are fashion designers finally having mercy on women, who strut around in 6inch heels, proclaiming flat heeled footwear as the new image for glamour and elegance? And even more intriguing, if this was the case, would woman all around the world abandon their beloved heels for good? It’s certainly a heavily disputed topic.

Despite the conflicts, I think many of us fashionistas are anxious to experiment and embrace this trend into our wardrobes. Of course trends are constantly recycled from previous decades and are often transient concepts in the fashion world, but it’s a relief when a few make it out of the tunnel, cheekily lounging across a glamorous designer’s new collection.

By Anousheh Seddigh-Tonekaboni