There's a change in the air in the way we dress everyday. Styles are getting sleeker and more refined, and nowhere is this more apparent than in shoes, where the loafer, the perennial favourite shoe of autumn, is getting a a shake up.
Or rather I should say they are in the midst of being given a serious... simplification.
For the last few years the reigning style has been the ruched loafer inspired by a pair from Yves Saint Laurent, where the leather around what's known as the "apron" of the shoe is gathered into small pleats.
Pared Back Leather Flat Square Toe Loafers
Pared Back Leather Flat Square Toe Loafers
This style has become so ubiquitous they've become the default loafer of choice across the high street. But for those of you interested in what's coming next on the horizon, the loafers to consider now (if you're in the market to update yours) are so pared back, simple and sleek they resemble gentlemen's slippers.
Bare of any detail, it's the streamlined and quietly luxuriously slimline shape of this shoe that does all the talking, and trust me when I say they are going to be everywhere soon.
I've spotted many chic women on the streets wearing them already - in black, white and soft tan suede or leather - styled with straight leg indigo jeans, floaty midi skirts, and even barrel cargo or "bargo" trousers, the new trouser hybrid that constantly sells out at M&S. The addition of a slimline shape at the feet with jeans, skirts and cargos is a low-key fashion statement in itself.
They're just the sort of loafer Fred Astaire would wear if he were dancing across our screens today, and their fresh simplicity and elegance is worth noting if you'd like to give your footwear style a sleek and comfortable upgrade for the season ahead.
The pairs I love come from M&S, Zara & Other stories, and I expect to see a lot more iterations of this shoe emerge in the months to come.
