Balenciaga continues to defy the norms of footwear with the debut of the Zero shoe as part of its fall 2025 collection.

Previewed Monday via a lookbook styled as “internal use” photographs shot on Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia’s phone, the upcoming range included brand staples such as puffed-up, oversized silhouettes and extreme interpretations of everyday garments.

On the footwear front, the fall selection included pre-distressed loafers, stiletto sneakers and a collaboration with orthopedic specialist Scholl. But the pair that has the internet buzzing most is a barely there unisex shoe known as the Zero.

According to Balenciaga, the Zero “distills footwear to its essence” by taking the barefoot shoe concept to the max. Secured only by a heel cup and a notch at the big toe, the 3D-molded shoe is composed entirely of EVA foam and is essentially a thin, wearable sole rather than a shoe.

The Zero was worn by models both with and without socks and was previewed in various muted colorways including black, white, tan and brown. Additional close-up shots shared on social media by Balenciaga sneaker designers Beini Qian and Adrian Perrot Garin, revealing an anatomical foot imprint on both the outsole and inside of the shoe. The brand’s logo appears on the medial side of the big toe.

The shift toward a barefoot shoe concept is a considerable change for the French fashion house, which has spent the last decade inflating sneakers to bulbous proportions, beginning with 2017’s polarizing Triple S model. After introducing its most exaggerated sneaker yet, the 10XL, in April, the brand dialed it down with the slightly more subtle 6XL in November. Now, the new Zero represents a move in the complete opposite direction. 

Retail pricing for the Balenciaga Zero has not yet been confirmed. The slip-on shoe is currently available for preorder from select Balenciaga locations. Readers can find more looks at the new design below.

Celebrities in Balenciaga Triple S Sneakers

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With a captivating mix of Latin American vibes and the ballet aesthetics, designer Paola Michel Pizá has debuted her namesake footwear brand. 

After years spent in the design studio of Tod’s and later as the creative director of the AF Studio-owned brands Sebastian Milano and The Saddler, the 31-year-old Mexican designer — who is based in Milan — was ready to channel her creativity into a solo project.

The first collection, debuting on the newly launched Michel Piza e-commerce site, sets the foundation for the brand’s aesthetics rooted in minimal shoe designs with a flair, the latter courtesy of unexpected twists such as the leopard motif on a slipper style or the curved shape of heels. 

“These are somewhat summery designs, but they capture my Latin roots,” Michel Pizá said.

Called “Essenza,” or “Essence” in English, the lineup comprises four designs including Zay, a reinterpretation of the traditional Moroccan slippers, Anna, a ballerina flat with laces nodding to pointe shoes, as well as Alessa and Sylvie, two low-heeled sandals. Their silhouette, uncomplicated but sinuous, is reminiscent of the delicate gestures and movements of ballet dancers. 

“I want to offer effortless shoes that can easily transition across different occasions of use, very versatile,” Michel Pizá said. “If I can shorten the time a girl spends thinking about her shoe of choice, then I achieved my goal,” she offered.  

In developing the slanted heel with visible stitching, for example, the designer studied several heights and widths to ensure that the sandals were comfortable but alluring and that no customer would get stuck while strolling down the cobbled streets of Milan.

She relocated to Milan from Guadalajara, Mexico in 2015, and studied accessories design at Istituto Marangoni after a prolific career as a classical ballet dancer, deeply informed the design process.  

“[My target customers] are girls and women in the 20s through 40s with a cosmopolite attitude, who appreciate art and creativity but also values life’s simplicity,” Michel Pizá offered. Cue the brand’s Instagram profile that juxtaposes snapshots of Michel Piza shoes with branding content of a cob or flowers.

Michel Piza’s footwear designs retail on average between 550 and 570 euros.

Roger Vivier is ready for the holidays. The luxury shoe brand has launched its 2024 holiday season campaign, highlighting signature designs and new releases.

The campaign is divided into two chapters.

The first, which was unveiled earlier this month, features a vibrant holiday story set around a Christmas tree transformed into a winter wonderland, adorned with sparkling ornaments and Roger Vivier’s signature gifts, including shoes, bags, and accessories.

Key highlights include the iconic Belle Vivier pump in orange or purple satin, adorned with a Pilgrim buckle encrusted with baguette-cut crystals. This season also introduces a slingback version with an ankle strap embroidered with beads and mirror elements, along with a black velvet Mary Jane slipper with a Pilgrim buckle on the strap. Evening bags with matching embellishments complete the festive look.

The second chapter of the campaign, which premieres on Dec. 14, is set on a vintage-inspired train, with plush pink velvet seats and gilded accents, showcasing the Efflorescence collection. This line features floral-themed shoes and bags adorned with crystal flower-encrusted buckles. New additions include a mule with the signature crystal flower buckle and a metallic wicker-style jewel bag made of interlaced metal strands.

All items in the campaign will be available at Roger Vivier’s Madison Avenue boutique in New York. After 17 years in its New York flagship, Roger Vivier relocated to the new space in October. Located at 650 Madison Avenue, the new storefront pays homage to the designer’s original Paris boutique and puts a larger emphasis on the label’s accessories categories beyond its footwear collections.

Vibi Venezia is marking its 10th anniversary with new flats revisiting the Mary Jane style with a dainty touch.

The Italian footwear label is known for its chic furlane footwear — the traditional Venetian slippers that have helped founders and sisters Vera and Viola Arrivabene gain international recognition for over the past decade. Now the pair is adding the new Brigitte design to its ever-expanding assortment. Inspired to Brigitte Bardot, the velvet flats come with a delicate ribbon instead of the usual strap fastened by a buckle and rendered in a flaming red color.

Teased this week, the anniversary style will be available at 95 euros in spring 2025, and will be followed by other reiterations in velvet as well as in printed versions.

Meanwhile, to further mark the milestone, the Arrivabenes tasked longtime friend and artist Angelica Hicks – who already created the brand’s logo in 2014 – to design a series of illustrations depicting the ViBi world and its Venetian roots, including motifs like gondolas and Spritz cocktails. 

The designs appear on celebratory merchandising ranging from baseball caps and tote bags, as well as on the invitations to the events the Arrivabenes hosted this week in Milan to fete the brand’s anniversary. They included a dinner party at Crazy Pizza, the restaurant launched by Italian entrepreneur and Formula 1 legend Flavio Briatore that just opened an outpost in New York, too, followed by a cocktail at ViBi Venezia’s store on Thursday.

Opened in 2022, the boutique marked a turning point for the label as its first directly operated brick-and-mortar unit. Located in Milan’s Piazza del Carmine, in the heart of the city’s arty Brera district, the 754-square-foot shop carries the whole ViBi Venezia offering, which includes the signature slippers as well as different styles, going from sporty slip-ons to feminine wedges, crafted from velvet, canvas, silk and damask fabrics. In addition, a kids line and homeware pieces in Murano glass by Giberto Venezia are also available at the location, which was designed to evoke a home rather than a shopping destination.

Key elements include a big, green velvet sofa — once housed at the sisters’ first apartment in Milan — as well as striped armchairs hailing from their residence overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. Baby blue colored walls painted by artist Assia Pallavicino, yellow curtains and a red-and-white striped carpet complete the space, punctuated by baskets showcasing the different pairs of shoes.

Since launching the brand, the Arrivabenes catapulted a low-key, local footwear style into a global one. Dating back to the 19th century, the furlane were originally produced from leftover fabrics and old tires, becoming a success among gondoliers as the rubber sole allowed them to have a firm grip while rowing without scratching the surface of gondolas.

Wearing the style since childhood, the sisters were regularly asked by their friends abroad to bring them pairs whenever they met them, so they sensed the demand for the style could have a bigger scale. Establishing a brand focused on the concept showed their willingness to support local artisans and celebrate their hometown, too.

Collaborations further served their mission of exporting the style around the world. As reported, most recently the Arrivabenes partnered with designer Alexandra O’Neill for a tie-up between Vibi Venezia and Markarian, resulting in romantic flats in light blue fabric, pale yellow tone with metallic gold leaves and in a white version with a royal blue floral pattern.

Previously, the label teamed up with the likes of Saloni on velvet furlane with handmade embroideries of bows, moons and stars, and Emilia Wickstead, reinterpreting flats in lightweight canvas and floral motifs to match the designer’s swimwear range presented for pre-fall 2022. In the past, the Arrivabenes also collaborated with Luisa Beccaria and developed special editions for retailers including Liberty London, Net-a-porter and LuisaViaRoma.

Amina Muaddi’s latest collection is here. On Tuesday, the designer dropped new styles of shoes and handbags.

A highlight in the drop includes the Anok line — named after supermodel muse Anok Yai — featuring sleek patent leather mules, ankle-strap pumps, slouch boots and jewelry.

Muaddi also makes a statement with white lace this season, seen on the Ane square-toed flat, and on the Camelia lace sling, adorned with an art-deco crystal buckle.

For the campaign, Muaddi utilized male model as accomplices, while shoes and handbags stood as the focal point. The goal of this line was to celebrate “women who embody strength, grace, and soft power,” according to the brand.

Another standout in Drop 24/25 is the Jerry sandal with dramatic black feathers. Plus, Muaddi’s signature flared heel — made popular on the Begum heel — can be seen on new silhouettes, such as the Veneda boot, Lilia slipper heel and on the Iris pump.

New styles are introduced as well — as seen in the Barbara line featuring pumps and fitted below-the-knee boot in croc and python print leather, polished patent and soft Nappa.

Drop 24/25 is available now at aminamuaddi.com and select luxury retailers and on Amina Muaddi’s official website.

French footwear brand Nomasei is dipping its toes into physical retail stateside, opening a pop-up store in New York’s SoHo.

Nestled in Elizabeth Street, the space opened on Wednesday and will run until Oct. 22, continuing a streak of retail activations the indie brand kicked off in its home country last year.

Testing the American market with a direct-to-consumer approach was the natural next move for Chloé alums and cofounders Paule Tenaillon and Marine Braquet, considering that U.S. accounts between 50 percent and 60 percent of the sales of the brand they established at the end of 2019 and that has carved out a niche of consumers with its responsibly-sourced and wearable shoes ever since.

Last year, the company totaled 2.5 million euros in sales, which are expected to reach 3 million euros in 2024, when the duo focused “on controlling our growth and prioritizing more on building processes and reinforcing our strategy,” said Tenaillon.

According to founders, Nomasei’s sustainable approach to luxury is among the features American consumers appreciate the most, joined by “our ‘French aesthetic’” and the fact that the label “creates shoes by women for women that are both fashionable and timeless.”

These assets turned out to resonate particularly well with customers in New York, as 35 percent of sales coming from the U.S. this year were generated from the New York area alone. Tenaillon and Braquet aim to further build on this momentum with the physical outpost, which mirrors Nomasei’s eco-oriented approach and the simple and clean aesthetic of its Paris showroom and previous, longer-term pop-ups. 

“Our focus is to get some real face time with our U.S. customers and hear from them directly,” said Braquet, underscoring that in general “direct communication is our most valuable asset: we have built a strong community through our newsletter, social channels, Paris pop-ups and other outreach that we have worked hard to maintain in our own voice.”

“Here we want people to hang out, try on shoes and feel at ease. We rented vintage furniture and are using existing images for any additional visuals… It will be intimate but warm and we are setting up everything ourselves,” said Braquet ahead of the opening.

The brand debuted the format in the French capital in fall 2023, running a space for three-and-a-half months in the Marais district to test Nomasei’s retail potential, and replicating the project this year. 

“Both were great and have made us feel confident about our next goal: a flagship store in Paris,” said Braquet, eyeing the opening within the next two years, to be followed by a permanent location in New York.

France and the U.K. are Nomasei’s top markets after the U.S., and the brand is also considering popping in London, according to Braquet. “The [goal] will be having free-standing store locations in these key markets, but we’re also considering small pop-up partnerships in Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux in spring 2025.”

The New York space carries Nomasei’s fall 2024 collection along with its best-selling styles, which include the Nono loafer. Defined by a squared toe, chunky heel, arty hardware and chic color-blocking, the design has been seen at the feet of the likes of Bella Hadid, Blake Lively, Nicole Kidman and revisited in limited-edition collaborations, including the buzzy one with stylist Julia von Boehm launched last year and that boosted the brand’s international visibility. 

Founders revealed the style will be reinterpreted for an upcoming special drop in collaboration with Red, the nonprofit organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to fight AIDS. It will mark the second chapter of the tie-up, after that earlier this year Nomasei released a red version of its Taxi sandals and donated part of the sales to support the cause.

The day-to-night Taxi design, along with the Baghera and Adora sandals, are among Nomasei’s other top-performing shoes in the U.S., while overall key styles from the label include the Frenchkiss strappy platform sandals and the Aria and Whisper stretch boots favored by the likes of Katie Holmes and Kelly Rutherford.

“Customers at the pop-up will be able to try on styles but in order to reduce excess waste, Nomasei will process orders online and ship products from their dispatcher in Paris,” said Tenaillon, underscoring how the brand mostly introduces new drops via pre-orders to limit excess production.

This attitude and the price point — which swings from 375 to 820 euros — contributed to the growth of the brand, which has recently completed a friends and family round and raised around half a million euros to further invest in new sustainable processes — such as a full scale repair and recycle programs, in addition to boost its marketing resources.

The sustainable mission is etched in Nomasei’s DNA since the beginning.

Braquet and Tenaillon – who met while working at Chloé in Paris and have a long-time experience in the industry via previous stints at fashion houses such as Dior, Jil Sander, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Givenchy – launched Nomasei after witnessing the fast-paced fashion timelines and wasteful production processes. They were determined to change the status quo by slowing down the fashion cycle with a responsible brand.

Based and designed in Paris, the company produces its footwear in a family-owned factory in Montopoli, Italy.

Just call him the shoe chef.

“This is my kitchen and I like to play with different ingredients,” said Giuseppe Zanotti, during an interview in his stylish Via Montenapoleone showroom during Milan Fashion Week.

As the designer marks 30 years of his namesake label, he is looking back with a special capsule collection focusing on the iconic Ring sandal, a key style from the beginning. The look is reinterpreted in a classic flat and new block heel.

For spring ’25, the designer also explored his love of jewelry shoes, using an oversized gold nugget to decorate pumps and sandals. The ornamentation helps modernize the classic pump, according to the designer. “I like to create a fusion between shoes and accessories,” Zanotti said. “The gold nuggets with the open toe and block heel, for me it’s my ideal pump.”

Zanotti also showed off a sexy sandal, defined by its geometric lines and ’80’s aesthetic. “I love to do shoes that are seasonless and fashionless,” he said.

Elsewhere in the spring ’25 collection, details define the assortment — from delicate metal flowers to glittering crystals to gold dome plates. The signature pointed-toe Intriigo silhouette is updated with hand-woven leather knots, while ballerinas go from day to night.

As he cooks up his next collection, Zanotti is expanding his retail presence with a new space at Milan’s Rinascente department store.

This fall, the designer has also gotten a boost from none other than Taylor Swift, who wore his over-the-knee boots to two Kansas City Chiefs games in September. Zanotti said he’s proud to have worked with the songstress since the beginning of her career, but seeing her step out in his shoes time and again next gets old.

“She goes everywhere in these boots,” he said. “I’m so happy!”

Christopher Ciccone, who left a distinctive mark on various creative industries and the footwear business, died at the age of 62 after a battle with cancer, according to a statement from his representative to Variety.  Known for his artistic diversity and being Madonna’s brother — serving as her backup dancer, stylist and artistic director —  Ciccone carved his own niche, culminating in a career spotlighted by his unique approach to design.

Ciccone’s ventures ranged from directing artistic concert tours, interior design, painting and designing furniture. He also authored a New York Times bestselling-memoir “Life with My Sister Madonna.” Amidst these accomplishments, his journey in the footwear industry included a debut of The Ciccone Collection on Sept. 14, 2012 at London Fashion Week. “Obviously, there will be a number of people wondering what the hell I am doing [designing] shoes,” Ciccone told FN in a 2012 interview ahead of London Fashion Week. “It’s a lot of pressure. Madonna will always be my sister.”

The collection, produced by Slovakia-based Novesta, featured rubber shoes and canvas sneakers, which he said was inspired by one of his wingtip shoes.  “I started thinking about using different materials to create classic styles,” he told FN. “Fashion has been a part of my world since Madonna started on stage. I did my best to imprint my artistic visions, the way I paint and design furniture.”

His approach embedded fashion with function — a testament to his belief in accessibility. “I was dead set against creating something that cost $500 a pair,” he said. “I won’t even spend that much on a pair of shoes. It’s definitely a mid-level brand that is not out of reach for most people.”

He added that he had plans to expand it into a full lifestyle label, including accessories and home goods. “I purposely chose the name The Ciccone Collection so as not to pigeonhole it into just footwear,” he said. “This is bigger than that and there is a lot more to come.”

Miu Miu showcased an unusual footwear aesthetic at its spring 2025 show in Paris on Oct. 1, where models wore a variety of open toe socks with their shoes to create a unique layered look.

The accessory, falling somewhere between sock and leg warmer, was displayed in a variety of colors and lengths, each with the Miu Miu label front and center. Cara Delevingne was one of the models wearing the look, with a gray toeless sock underneath a patent orange slide.

Meanwhile, Hilary Swank wore the gray option with a patent pink version of the slide. Still other iterations of the sock were calf length and paired with high heels. And since they are toeless, they can even be worn with thong sandals, as was also demonstrated on the runway.

The product has caused some confusion amongst the public. @Idservecouture asked on social media, “How do we call these Miu Miu socks that are not socks?” Chiming into the conversation, comments ranged from “Blisters saviors” to “Foot Sleeve” to “Arch warmers.”

“Actually, as someone who gets blisters from wearing sandals, in that area specifically, I can’t wait for this to trend,” one person commented.

Another added, “Perfect for when the sandal scrapes your foot.”

“FAUX, but pronounced as fox so it rhymes with socks,” one person quipped.

As if faux socks and an appearance by Hilary Swank wasn’t enough, Miu Miu offered one last surprise with actor Willem Dafoe closing the show.

The Miu Miu Ready To Wear Spring 2025 as part of Paris Ready to Wear Fashion Week was held at Palais d’Iéna on Oct. 1, the last day of Paris Fashion Week.