In Defense of Wedge Sneakers
On fashion déjà vu, hidden heels, and the strange politics of good taste.
I am seeing wedge sneakers again!
In a December 2024 Reddit thread, one Redditor described wedge sneakers as “Horse hooves,” while another pushed back, “These are fire. They always have been.” Wedge sneakers seem to invite strong feelings on the internet, whether it’s outright contempt or a sense of loyalty. The Standard greeted their return with the headline “Oh god, the fashion world is trying to bring wedge trainers back,” while Who What Wear included them among 2026’s ugly shoe trends.
Does a sneaker with a hidden wedge heel bring you distress, too? I have a few things to say in its defense.
Isabel Marant’s Bekett, introduced in 2009, and the Bobby, its more understated companion that followed in the early 2010s, are back in remarkably familiar, if not identical, forms.
I remember when they were around $600 a pair, which was quite an extravagance. Luxury sneakers had yet to become the everyday fashion proposition they are today, and spending that much on sneakers still seemed outrageous. Now the Bekett is back at $850. And when a clean-cut black-and-white Prada Downtown sneaker pops for over $1K, the concealed wedge seems like a lot of bang for the buck.
Somewhere now, I imagine, elder millennial girlies are digging through their shoe archives in the section labeled paid too much, well worn, but cannot let go.
As I, too, am an elder millennial, I feel that I may have finally lived long enough to witness a full cycle of a fashion trend. It is strange to re-find an item from your younger years being presented as the next big thing.
I feel a bit shortchanged, though, like getting all hyped up about a new birthday cake-scented lip balm, only to discover that it smells just like another brand’s. Although, what was I expecting? When and how did white frosting, rainbow sprinkles, and basic vanilla cake become THE American birthday cake? What if it was carrot cake?
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Anyway, wedge sneakers.
What surprised me is how little the designs of the Bekett and Bobby have changed. Usually, when trends return, they come back as the 2.0 versions of their former selves. Take lip combos, for instance. What used to be dark lip liner and gloss straight off a ’90s TLC album cover (remember CrazySexyCool?) has evolved into a multistep lip kit involving lip stains, soft pencils to blur and extend the lip lines, and glossy balms with murumuru butter, peptides, and even PDRN, a DNA-derived ingredient marketed for cellular repair. Sorry, this deserves its own essay. Anyway, back to wedges.
But those wedge sneakers look eerily similar to the ones I remember from more than 15 years ago. The Bekett and Bobby became icons of a particular era, worn by celebrities and women drawn to unconventional, expensive footwear. More commercial varieties existed back then, too. Nike had its Dunk Sky Hi, a wedge version of its iconic basketball sneaker, although it catered to a different market segment. Today, I see nearly identical “super dupe” silhouettes at Steve Madden, ALDO, and department store private labels, some selling for nearly one-tenth of the current Bekett’s price.
According to WGSN’s Buying Director’s Briefing: Footwear A/W 26/27, wedge sneakers are showing renewed interest. In the UK, they accounted for just 2.7% of the women’s sports shoe assortment but performed well within that small share. So they are back. At least enough to upset the fashion press again.
Well, I like them. I had several pairs but as a New Yorker, I eventually had to let them go in the interest of space economies — lose some shoes or a vacuum? And after spending more than a decade designing footwear, I consider wedge sneakers an ingenious response to a question I used to hear: “Can you design sexy shoes that are comfortable?” There you have it!
I generally feel at ease with two to three inches of elevation and regularly wear heels, the regular, non-wedge kind. I even used to bike in heels cross-town in NYC, commuting from the East River near the UN all the way toward the West Side by the Garment District, because the heels hooked perfectly onto the bike pedals. On a more toned-down note, I just enjoy having my feet elevated. Stilettos make me feel good too, although they require additional focus when walking. With a thoughtfully designed wedge sneaker, I get the height, the posture, and a greater sense of stability. I feel slightly more powerful in them.
Wedge sneakers remind me of Wonder Woman. When Gal Gadot played her in the 2020 film, Wonder Woman 1984, she actually wore wedge-heeled gladiator boots. Why not give an Amazonian warrior princess a little grounded elevation? I imagine that if Wonder Woman traded her gladiator boots for sneakers, she would choose concealed wedges with TPR outsoles for traction. A little height, some heel pitch, and enough stability to saunter into battle, or at least conquer the metal-edged stairs of a NYC subway station.
And speaking of powerful women, why is the woman CEO still so often pictured in a sharply tailored suit and stilettos? I would love to see her in wedge sneakers. Ballet flats are sensible alternatives, but they do not quite match the power-suit vibe. I like the idea of a woman enjoying some steady height while floating across the city without worrying about every crack in the pavement or what might be lurking in those mystery street puddles.
I once sat at a coffee shop in SoHo with colleagues during Fashion Week, watching groups of meticulously dressed young women emerge from the subway. Every time a train arrived, there they were, carefully managing their high heels on the stairs. Some looked as though they were negotiating with their shoes just to reach street level. I remember imagining a group of gorgeous cyborgs who, when called, could only turn their heads ten degrees at a time, accompanied by mechanical cracking sounds. I wondered how much better those outfits would have looked if the women could actually move like humans in them.
Wedge sneakers are not automatically comfortable. I’ve seen the fit, pattern, construction, materials, and heel placement make or break a shoe. A flat shoe can give you blisters. Even a cozy pair of UGGs can cause friction if your feet slide around inside them.
“Beauty is pain” is such an established saying. But ugliness doesn’t guarantee comfort, either. And who decided wedge sneakers were ugly in the first place? We have spent decades celebrating stilettos as symbols of femininity and sex appeal. Conceal that elevation inside a sneaker, add a padded tongue and Velcro straps, and some see horse hooves. Although, I cannot unsee it now, my admiration for wedge sneakers holds steady.
I suppose what amuses me most is that the wedge sneaker has been admired, copied, ridiculed, buried, and revived, while its basic design has barely changed. How much of what we call good taste is just a matter of timing, familiarity, and who happens to be wearing something? I have no intention of convincing everyone to love wedge sneakers. I just think they deserve a little more credit and a chance to be reimagined. And to my dear fellow elder millennial girlies digging through their shoe archives, I hope the Velcro still works!
