I remember the first time I slipped on a pair of proper heels as a young woman. My feet protested after about twenty minutes, and I spent the rest of the evening shifting my weight from one sore spot to the next. There was something both thrilling and slightly ridiculous about it. These days, when I watch my daughter and her friends navigate their own sense of style, I find myself smiling at how they've landed on something that feels kinder.
Kitten heel flip-flops have quietly taken hold among Gen Z this summer. Searches for them on Depop have jumped by 260 percent since April, while Vinted has seen a 209 percent rise year on year. Demand on Lyst climbed 202 percent quarter on quarter, and sales of kitten heel toe-post shoes at John Lewis are up a full 300 percent compared with last year. The Rejina Pyo collection there, priced at £109, sold out completely.
What strikes me is how this shift feels less like chasing a trend and more like a gentle rediscovery. These shoes evoke the slinky style of the 1990s, yet their roots go back further, to transitional footwear worn in Italy during the 1780s and 1790s. They offer just enough lift, usually between 3.8 and 5.3 centimetres, to feel polished without the wobble of proper stilettos.
A practical step towards elegance
For those who spent years favouring nothing but flats, kitten heel flip-flops act as a comfortable gateway. They keep that casual thong shape we all know from ordinary flip-flops, but add a little sophistication that makes an ordinary summer day feel slightly more put together.
As one fashion voice put it, they retain a casual energy and are not an intimidating heel while being appropriate for heatwaves. Another observer described them as a godsend for balancing style and comfort in warm weather. Caroline Young, author of Style Tribes, noted that kitten heels sit comfortably between heels and flats, with a current focus on the ability to move easily because comfort has always been more important.
Power rests with those women who chose comfort over discomfort in relation to stilettos.
Rebecca Shawcross, senior shoe curator and author of Shoes: An Illustrated History, put it rather well there. And Joy Montgomery, British Vogue shopping editor, spoke of a renewed craving for glamour after the pandemic years filled with orthopaedic shoes and gorpcore practicality.
