Want to catch sight of the best things that happened at Fashion Week? Just look down. Spring/Summer 2027 menswear’s prevailing footwear was the opposite of the usual hype sneakers.

As with the natural and unglossy “new look” we’ve clocked in the menswear space, the footwear of the moment involved a proliferation of plain, mass-market, borderline unglamorous shoes that got the luxury treatment, again and again — proving that right now, the hottest thing you can drop isn’t some show-stealing silhouette, but a comfortable, ubiquitous shoe that almost fades into the background.

The most talked-about shoe this season wasn’t even a proper collab. Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton “Combi” shoe is close enough to the original $60 Vans Authentic that the shoemaker called it out directly on Instagram — and this was all before LV’s runway show even happened. Meanwhile, there were plenty of legitimate collaborations between Vans and fashion brands: one with the edgy Los Angeles label 424 reimagined the Authentic with extra-thick laces, while streetwear pioneer BORNXRAISED went for a doodled-over version. The Vans slip-on also received a refresh in a floral-print iteration by Kei Ninomiya for Dover Street Market via the upscale OTW By Vans label. 

It's a testament to the endearing influence of the humble skatewear brand that, across one of high fashion’s biggest weeks, Vans took up the most oxygen (and, again, inspired one of the largest luxury labels to blatantly rip off its most signature shape). All over the runway, in fact, “elevated boring” proved best: AURALEE’s long-running New Balance partnership graduated from many seasons' worth of twists on established models to an entirely original shoe, the 574 Driver; CELINE went with Reebok — not a hype brand by any measure — for its first sneaker partnership ever, aging the archival Freestyle through pre-scuffed lambskin. 

Kenzo paired up with Paraboot, giving the workwear-adjacent Michael shoe a preppy, collegiate spin, while sacai revived its Birkenstock collaboration for the first time since 2010, dressing up the Boston and Arizona with extra straps and patterned uppers by tattoo artist Dr. Woo. And even on the freakier side of fashion, which included a reunion between Rick Owens and adidas after a decade apart, a range of ridiculous inflatable tracksuits helped to make the duo’s black technical running shoes seem almost conventional by comparison — despite featuring sculpturally blocky soles and jutting heels.

Even a major partnership between two major Japanese streetwear brands — Y-3 and Number (N)ine — nearly flew entirely under the radar, with the duo’s stealthy new ski boot, which unzipped to reveal a surprisingly sleek hiking boot encased inside and was designed to blend into its sensory overload of a show (there were many models performing many elaborate dances borrowed from football drills). 

None of the shoes we saw were particularly exciting on their own, which is exactly the point. When a luxury brand wants credibility now, it’s not reaching for a sneaker built on shock value. It’s about releasing a shoe that anyone can add to their rotation and elevating the product to a must-buy, not through gimmicks, but through carefully considered premium flourishes.

Skinny pants, drippy suiting, and leg-baring sheer bottoms may have generated more discourse off the European runways this past month, but the odds of any particular clothing trend catching on are always hit or miss. A shoe, on the other hand (or foot), is clothing’s great unifier: One pair can serve as a statement piece in its own right and inspire someone to buy into the brand at a price point that’s practically sensible. 

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