Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

Are sandals gone out of fashion?

117 replies

user1471554720 · 03/08/2021 20:32

I always wear sandals in summer, usually gabor or rieker with a bit of a heel. I paint toenails a bright colour. I wear for work and also if I am in town on annual leave. I have flatter sandals for if I am on holiidays. I wear them with a capri trousers and a nice cotton top. I wear this for work and at home in the summer.

Recently I have noticed that a lot of other women my age (late 40s) are wearing a chunky white runner with leggings.

I love the feeling of air on my toes. Weather is often dull but clammy so I would hate toes to be enclosed. Also as I am only 5ft 3, I love having a small heel.

If I wore leggings at the weekend for errands then my normal tops don't work well and I would need a sports top and runners. Also, as I look my age and a bit square/untrendy I am afraid I would look too 'try hard'.

What does everyone else wear in summer?

OP posts:
IrishGirl2020 · 04/08/2021 15:19

@Toomuchtodoo

Not so much fashion in my case as comfort.

I completely agree about sandals being nice in the heat but not if you have to walk lots and every pair of sandals ever gives you blisters 😂 Happens to me even more often in the heat as the sandals that fitted nicely at home don’t once I’ve been out walking for a while and my feet have swollen 🙁

Honestly I think if you ask most people, they’ll say the same as me. Trainers are just more comfortable but not nicer

HumphreyCobblers · 04/08/2021 15:21

I currently wearing some art platform sandals (look v like the DM ones everyone is wearing) that I bought in 2003! So funny that I am no longer a fashion outcast.

SalsaLove · 04/08/2021 15:22

[quote LordOfTheThings]@SalsaLove they def have a 70s vibe about them but they seem to go with everything! I got them in the sale and I don't think I've ever had so many compliments about a pair of shoes as I have about these. Grin[/quote]
Are they comfortable?

AbsolutelyPatsy · 04/08/2021 17:02

i have sandalls like the ones the op linked to, but jewelled but decided this year to go for comfort, and speed to walk!
and walking on the beach means walking over shingle so sandalls are a no no

AbsolutelyPatsy · 04/08/2021 17:03

i have treated myself to millets sandals if i want to air my feet

nordica · 04/08/2021 17:23

I've rarely worn my sandals outside my own garden this year partly because the weather has been so unpredictable with rain showers most days, and also because I walk a lot and can walk much faster in other shoes. Sometimes I also can't be bothered to keep up with the pedicures and foot maintenance required - my feet are always ok but I only really like to show them if they look great.

RampantIvy · 04/08/2021 20:41

I bought these sandals in the sale recently. I'm sure the MN fashionistas will think they are frumpy, but they are really comfortable, and I can walk miles in them.

Interestingly they were on;y £34.99 in the Rieker shop in Salisbury.

PostMenWithACat · 04/08/2021 20:46

I really like them @RampantIvy

TableNiner · 04/08/2021 21:41

I have noticed fewer women wearing sandals this summer in London. I look around and I’m feel like I’m the only one wearing them, so I think they are less popular.

This is probably because of the ubiquitousness of the dress (or jumpsuit) with white trainers look, the trend for young women to wear massive 90s style trainers and the unpredictability of the English weather.

I’m like you, hate my feet enclosed if it’s warm and my feet are a part of my body I actually like. There are also plenty of other months in the year you can wear trainers, I’m making hay whilst the sun shines (a bit).

RampantIvy · 04/08/2021 22:26

I’m like you, hate my feet enclosed if it’s warm

Same here. I find trainers far too hot when it is 25 degrees.

ConfusedParticle · 05/08/2021 14:01

@AbsolutelyPatsy

fashion is just trying to cater for the differing life styles people have now, less going out to work, more working from home.
afaik only 28-30% of us are wfh.
AbsolutelyPatsy · 05/08/2021 17:07

but more working from home than there were

newnortherner111 · 05/08/2021 17:33

The unpredictable weather in all but about ten days of the summer is the best reason I can think why sandals are being worn less this year.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 05/08/2021 17:56

exactly, sandals are rubbish in the rain

notoldjustpastyoung · 05/08/2021 18:05

Why can't everyone wear what they want to. If you feel good it doesn't matter, in fact it's better nobody else is wearing the same. I have a friend in her very late 80s. Today she was wearing leopard skin leggings and a loose white blouse. Her summer dresses are to die for. Chiffony, etc. with sleeveless if its very hot, low backs. She doesn't care that she has wrinkles and flabby bits, she's always smiling and happy. Even though she does have some medical problems. She might even be holder. I had an aunt who was the same, and I make no apology for following in her footsteps.

justasking111 · 05/08/2021 18:12

We were due a deluge today wore my croc flip flops walking in town it did pour down but was warm no shoes to dry out 😂

Nightmarenextdoor · 05/08/2021 18:24

I think the sandals you linked to are hideous but I think the ‘dad’ sandals are too. The difference is that one sort are fashionable and the other dated - how much you care about that and how much you’d prefer to just be comfortable is up to you.

I love trainers but agree that there’s nothing better than open toes in summer - like @Crazysheep I live in my Havianas as long as I can.

FredaFox · 05/08/2021 18:29

I'm a flip flop or trainers/pumps girl. Might stretch to a low wedge.
Not worn sandals for years personally.

I hate those blingy jewelled sandals but I know they are popular with some of my friends (they have loved bling for the past 30 years 😂 so they don't stop now)
Be boring if we liked the same thing

I can't open your link op but the brands you mentioned are frumpy to me

(I'm early 40s)

Bertiebiscuit · 05/08/2021 19:09

I agree with you - I can never find sandals that aren't frumpy and clompy any more - even m and s lets me down lately - I suspect sandals are considered unfashionable these days which is a shame - and men still seem to get nice ones still 🙄😢

RampantIvy · 05/08/2021 19:53

I hate the way the word "frumpy" is bandied about on MN.

I either like something or I don't. I don't like shoes that make my feet look huge, so I don't wear the chunky white trainers so beloved at the moment. I wear sandals if it is hot (flip flops at home), and I only wear footwear that is comfortable.

MargosKaftan · 05/08/2021 19:56

I bought some lovely sandals for this summer. They arrived the day before the heatwave finished. They got one wear and then I've been back in my trainers.

MargosKaftan · 05/08/2021 20:00

Oh but also, lots of people in our town are walking further than normal to avoid public transport this year. So trainers have become more normal every day footwear. It could be many of your colleagues are walking more than they would have done in previous summers and can't face sandal straps rubbing and can't be bothered changing footwear when they get to work.

Durbeyfield · 05/08/2021 20:27

I agree RampantIvy, ‘frumpy’ is very much the go-to word here but actually all kinds of different things can look good on different people.

Italianmeringuebuttercream · 05/08/2021 20:35

I got some teva midforms which are apparently on trend (who knew?) I wanted waterproof sandals I could walk miles in. They are awesome! My dd 10 approves

RampantIvy · 05/08/2021 20:36

I have been wearing these around the house instead of slippers.

I think they are absolutely hideous, but they are so comfortable.

Who wants to wear white closed in trainers in the heat? It's madness. And for what - all so we won't look dated?

I know. It’s a bit fashion victim to me. Posters saying that trainers are more comfortable than sandals are wearing the wrong sandals. I don’t like the chunky clunky sandals that have been posted on here, but I think that is an age thing. They look fine on young people, but on my 62 year old feet they just look tragic. DD (21) has the chunky DM sandals (bought two years ago), but she didn’t buy them to be in fashion, but because she likes them.