These ‘90s throwback sandals are stepping back into trend this summer — much to the horror of millennials
Sporting these shoes will leave everyone jelly of your nostalgic style.
Jelly sandals, the plastic, gummy, candy-colored footwear of the ’80s and ’90s, are now making a surprising comeback as the shoe of the summer, in a trend helmed by the trendsetting twin creative directors, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, of The Row.
The minimalist luxury label debuted the $890 Mara vinyl slip-ons, which are now sold out, for the brand’s spring/summer 2024 collection in Paris, signaling, at least to fashionistas, a shift in cult favorites this season.
“No doubt the greatest explosion we will face this summer will be thanks to the jelly glove-style flats that appeared on The Row’s Spring 2024 runway,” fashion savant and writer Leandra Medine Cohen predicted in an entry of her Substack, The Cereal Aisle.
Weeks ago, Ancient Greek Sandals launched a line of $125 Iro flats in six different shades of PVC, while Mango offers a golden, glittering fisherman sandal for under $80.
Melissa, one of the pioneers of the nostalgic jelly shoe, sells their hallmark “Possession” caged sandal in nearly two dozen saccharine colorways and recently collaborated with Undercover to release a series of jelly silhouettes last month, including loafers. Similar pairs are available at Nordstrom.
And, just this week, Rumer Willis was spotted wearing a periwinkle pair in New York City.
Not to mention, Gen Z’s Y2K craze — which has prompted a frenzy of flip phones, digital point and shoots and popcorn fabric — has propelled the retro style to prominence by way of gelatinous pieces, such as the “Gummy Sunglasses” by Gentle Monster, or jelly-inspired cosmetics, like Milk Makeup’s Water Jelly lip tint and blush stain.
“With the momentum of the Y2K resurgence that we’re seeing in fashion, jellies made their comeback as they are reminiscent of that era,” stylist and image consultant Julie Kraus told Real Simple.
A symptom of the “plastic fantastic” craze, the blister-inducing, translucent shoes soared to popularity in the ’80s and ’90s — so it’s fitting, then, that Taylor Swift rocked a pair of pink jelly sandals in a photo from “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” somehow foreshadowing the footwear’s revival this year.
The PVC footwear frenzy has seemingly been building for a while — Gucci debuted its own jelly sandals two years ago, while Melissa collaborated with Telfar to create a line of jelly totes and kicks. In 2023, Coach’s runway, which featured Lil Nas X, was peppered with jelly shoes and a translucent rendition of its iconic Tabby handbag.
“If you think about the popularity of the mesh ballet flats from summer 2023, you can follow the through-line that leads to [net jelly flat],” Sarah Shapiro, a retail consultant and the author of the Substack blog Sarah’s Retail Diary, told Marie Claire.
Despite their cute factor, jelly shoes have long been considered divisive. Historically ranked in the same category as Crocs or Birkenstocks, the cult classic sandal was branded “ugly” just as soon as millennials tired of them in the early aughts. Luckily, the clunk is back en vogue with the rise of UGG clogs and ballet flat-sneaker hybrids.
