Y2K Shoes

Shoes were where the 2000s got surreal. The Mary Jane came back on a platform, the sneaker went chunky and then went fur, the boot grew spikes, and somewhere around 2005 a heel stopped being shaped like a heel. Y2K Shoes gathers forty-four pairs, flats, sneakers, boots, slides and heels, every one of them the base of a 2000s outfit and often its whole point.

Mary Janes — Patent, Velvet, Leopard, Cow Print and Sheer Mesh

The Mary Jane is the McBling shoe and the collection's deepest shelf. The Black Mary Jane and the Ecru Mary Jane are the essentials; Red, Burgundy and Rose run the patent and matte tones; the Brown Mary Jane stacks on a block heel, the Mary Jane Pump doubles its strap in cream. The Bow Mary Jane softens pink patent with a bow, the Velvet Mary Jane goes dusty rose matte, the Leopard and Cow Print Mary Janes use calf-hair texture, the Transparent Mary Jane swaps patent for sheer red mesh. The Gothic Mary Jane stacks the shoe on a platform, the mall-goth version; the Mary Jane Sandal crosses the strap with a sneaker sole. Worn with knee socks, a pleated mini and a baby tee, or with baggy jeans for the contrast the decade loved.

Punk and Gothic Footwear — Studs, Spikes, Buckles and Bones

The Women's Punk Boots stud from sole to cuff; the Gothic Shoes cut high on a studded platform; the Spiked Shoes bristle with metal along the sole. The Buckle Boots close with a full row of metal clasps instead of laces. The Metal Toe Ankle Boots cap a Chelsea boot in sculpted steel; the Streetwear Loafers cap a lace-up in metal. The Skeleton Clogs line the shoe in sculpted bones; the Blood Shoes splatter canvas high-tops in red. These are the shoes for black denim, a pyramid belt and a spiked balaclava, the Hot Topic shelf in full.

Sneakers and Dad Shoes — Chunky, Laced, Tagged and Washed

The Dad Shoes are built on genuine chunky proportions, the silhouette the decade's sneaker became. The Thick Lace High-Top Sneakers turn the laces into the design; the Rope Lace Shoe wraps textured cord, the Ribbon Lace Shoe ties satin. The Sneaker Boot laces all the way to the knee. The Graffiti Sneakers tag a chunky skate shoe in overlapping type; the Star Sneakers patch bold black-and-white stars; the Cross Sneaker marks a single symbol; the Washed Sneaker fades cream like worn denim; the Pointed Toe Sneaker takes a metallic racer finish, the cyber Y2K pair. The Fur Sneaker wraps the sneaker in a winter layer, the skate shoe gone McBling.

Fur, Slides, Moon Boots and Surreal Heels

The Fur Sandals wrap the foot in soft pink, the Fur Mules go fuchsia, the Fur Boots cover the entire upper in a winter cloud. The Y2K Moon Boots put the puffy rounded silhouette on a rugged lug sole, the ski-lodge shoe worn in the mall. The Brown, Black and Beige Slides are a molded minimal sole in three tones, the off-duty shoe of the decade. The Square Toe Moccasins keep clean minimal leather; the Leopard Shoe hides a paw-shaped sole. Then the surreal pair: the Hand Heels, sculpted into an actual hand holding the foot, and the Teeth Heel, baring a metallic fanged grin at the back. The 2000s treated the heel as sculpture; these two are that idea exactly.

How the 2000s Wore Shoes — Platform Under a Mini, Chunky Under Baggy, Socks Showing

Mary Janes went with knee socks or fishnets under a pleated mini, or with a baggy jean for the soft-over-loud contrast. Chunky sneakers and dad shoes disappeared under stacked denim and reappeared when the hem bunched. Punk boots were laced loose with the jean tucked or the mini above. Slides and fur mules were worn to the mall with sweat shorts in any weather. The sculptural heels went with the plainest outfit possible, because the shoe was the sentence. A Y2K shoe was chosen to be seen from the ground up, which is why so many of them had something to say down there.

Why Y2K Footwear Got Loud — The Platform, the Chunky Sole and the Sculptural Heel

Three ideas rebuilt the shoe between 1999 and 2006. The platform came from the Spice Girls and the rave floor and put the Mary Jane two inches higher. The chunky sole came from skate and basketball and turned the sneaker into a block. And the sculptural heel came from the runway's flirtation with the surreal, a heel as a hand, a fang, a claw. Mall goth added studs, McBling added fur, the ski lodge added the moon boot. A Y2K shoe today is any of those: the base of the outfit built as loud as the top of it.