The mesh ballet flat has, I think, enjoyed its moment in the sun. Though the trend first took flight in 2019–when The Row began to sell these semi-sheer slippers online–it wasn’t until 2023 that most people began to emancipate their toes in public thanks to Alaïa’s almost-ubiquitous fishnet flats. Cue: endorsements from Jennifer Lawrence, Sofia Richie Grainge, Dua Lipa, and Anne Hathaway.
But here’s the thing: once a trend becomes commonplace, it no longer creates the stimulus necessary to fascinate. Fashion is a system of obsolescence and it continuously subverts its own conventions for this same reason. Margot Robbie knows this. The actor–who is expecting her first child with husband Tom Ackerley–was this week photographed in London wearing full-look Alaïa: a loden coat, a draped dress, some stacking bracelets and fishnet heels. See also: the netted bag that Lipa wore last month.
This is not to say that people should avoid wearing fishnet flats altogether. There are, after all, good reasons for their mainstreaming: we all want to feel grounded, comfortable, at home outdoors, a little freaky. (A mesh heel somehow feels more “wrong” than a mesh slipper.) “The moment I saw them, I was in love!” this magazine’s fashion editor Eniola Dare said of her own Alaïa flats in the summer of 2023. “They are the perfect summer–and holiday-ready–shoes. As well as being super comfy, they can literally be worn with anything.”