It's called the “Chocolate” and it lives up to its name.
Because this loafer signed Prada is the fashion delicacy of the moment, so popular with trendy girls that it is already
sold out
in its Monolith version (the one with a maxi notched sole launched in winter 2021).
Ever since the
it girls
discovered these loafers, they can't live without them.
And even if this shoe from the upscale neighborhoods has always been popular, it is on display this season everywhere on the shelves and on the feet of all generations.
An unparalleled blowback for this BCBG hit which is a hit on the Parisian or New York asphalt, and which could even sound the death knell for superstar basketball.
XXL Success
Small flashback: during the fall-winter 2019-2020 season, Prada is therefore launching, off the podium, its Chocolate model, in leather, with a round toe, rubber soles and the famous triangle logo placed on the front. .
From influencers (Pernille Teisbaek) to star models (Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber), they all take it on in an offbeat back-to-school atmosphere that does not go unnoticed.
A year later, the brand's new Monolith is also a hit and there's no doubt that the latest version of this Prada loafer with an 85mm heel will also reach the heights of desirability.
He is not the only one to carve out the lion's share.
On the shoe space of Galeries Lafayette, in Paris, this shoe without laces is everywhere and is displayed at all prices:
in crocodile-effect leather and a gold bar at Bottega Veneta, edged with scallops and fringes at Chloé, adorned with a rhinestone button at Ganni, with an XXL platform at Versace, with a square toe and wide heel at Minelli… “All the brands now offer the theirs, explains Graziella Dubief, director of footwear supply and purchases at Galeries Lafayette.
But it is above all its version with a large notched sole, the
chunky loafer
as it is called, which has reintroduced it into the hearts of consumers.
Giving it a very cool side that breaks its bourgeois and school image.
It must be said that the moccasin, originally masculine, has come a long way, and if it has long been popular, it has not always been in the odor of sanctity with Gen Z.
The moccasin, the new basketball?
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow06 photos
See the slideshow06 photos
All brands now offer their own
Graziella Dubief, shoes offer and purchasing director at Galeries Lafayette
A legend of America
The first cult model dates back to 1936. By revamping a Norwegian farmer's slipper, the American house GHBass created Weejuns, the famous “Penny Loafer” which takes its name from the coin that students slipped into its front slot to use the telephone.
Here he is king of the Ivy League campuses, before becoming an American legend, notably at the feet of JFK, Paul Newman or Miles Davis, and, a little later, Michael Jackson, whose moccasins + white socks look will also know its hour of glory.
Women, they will start wearing moccasins in the 1950s. The actresses Katharine and Audrey Hepburn, or Grace Kelly, thus give it its letters of elegance.
Sometimes sported by certain subcultures (British mods or rockabillies, among others), the moccasin is
clearly gentrified in the 1980s, became the emblem of American yuppies and Parisian twinks.
His bourgeois image "Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy" then sticks to his skin until the 2020s, which put him back on other soles and other paths that suit him much better in complexion.
The actresses Katharine and Audrey Hepburn, or Grace Kelly, give it its letters of elegance
fashion phenomenon
"We felt that the moccasin was going to come back," says David Létang, agent and distributor of GHBass in France, whose order volumes at points of sale (Bon Marché, Sarenza, Merci, etc.) have been multiplied by three compared to the previous one. last year.
“Luxury brands like Gucci were the first to relaunch it, but it must be admitted that its adoption by new generations took a little time, he continues.
20-year-olds still laughed last winter in front of a pair of moccasins, while this year, they all want to wear them!
GHBass also recently released a notched model that appeals to girls as much as boys, and, proof of its rejuvenation, entered, with this new range, the Citadium, haunt of trendy teenagers.
“It's amusing to see how the moccasin today escapes its socio-cultural determinism, analyzes Thomas Zylberman, stylist and trendsetter at the Carlin Creative office.
We can compare it to the polo shirt, which also became disembodied at one point to become a pure fashion phenomenon.
Certainly, but how to explain this craze for this great leather classic this season?
"It's a bit like the opposite of
ugly shoes
, more fun on social networks than in real life, continues Thomas Zylberman.
It is also the sign of a little fed up with basketball, whose speculative bubble and multiple collaborations are beginning to tire buyers.
And then fashion, this season, is returning to a much more constructed silhouette with an appetite for well-cut coats or jackets.
It's the same with the feet, we feel that consumers want more structured shoes that give a cleaner and cleaner look to the silhouette.
In video, 10 tips to reconcile you with your shoes
It's amusing to see how the moccasin today escapes its socio-cultural determinism
Thomas Zylberman, stylist and trendsetter at the Carlin Creative office
Stylish potential
Another significant asset of the moccasin: it adapts to all styles.
On social networks, girls hijack it with rock or neopreppy looks, wear it with baggy jeans or pencil skirts, wear it in sequined disco mode or in an exaggerated version with tongues or XXL horsebit chain, thus deliberately flirting with bad taste.
The most seasoned, on the contrary, will brandish deliberately classic models (almost like a challenge) to show how well they know how to twist it, sublimate it and make it eminently cool.
"The key to its success is its versatility," says Tiffany Hsu, director of women's and children's purchasing at the online sales site Mytheresa, whose current best-selling loafers are the chunky-soled Saint Laurent loafers.
The key to its success is its versatility
Tiffany Hsu, women's and children's purchasing director at Mytheresa
The great classics of the genre are also benefiting from this renewed interest.
Like JM Weston's cult 180 moccasin, unchanged since 1946. It must be said that it stands out both for the high quality of its manufacture and for its history.
The one that will have seen in the 1960s the emergence of a new tribe called the “rebels of the drugstore”.
These boys from the 16th arrondissement who thought they were thugs with their Ray-Ban, Levi's and Weston 180 jeans.
But, for a year, we also feel a surge of buying fever among women.
Sales of this product have indeed increased by 57% in 2022!
Olivier Saillard also introduced, in 2019, a three-sole creeper-style moccasin.
"VS'
no gender
par excellence.
And it has long been established that it is no longer mandatory for a woman to wear high heels to express her femininity,” he concludes.
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A “dress slipper”
To each his own style
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow09 photos
See the slideshow09 photos
The
loafer
therefore returns to the hearts of both girls and boys, and it seems to be unanimously accepted by all generations.
Journalist and fashion designer Alexandra Golovanoff twists hers (two-tone Pierre Hardy) with jeans or a pencil skirt, when youtuber Léna Mahfouf, 25, tells us about her passion for the moccasin-white socks combo: among her hits, Jonak, Prada or Louis Vuitton.
“We all want to put it back,” confirms shoemaker Pierre Hardy, who points to a little weariness for basketball.
Its models of women's moccasins (the John with the overflowing structured sole and the Easton perched on heels) are also on the rise this winter.
“Between the sneaker and the chic shoe, the moccasin plays the in-between well.
It's a city shoe, not too formal,
which gives women a well-bred tomboy side and men a scent of golden campus-style adolescence.”
The moccasin is above all comfortable and easy to put on, also note its new fans under 25 years old.
A sort of dressy slipper, whose stylish potential has not escaped the couch generation.