This Season’s Best Footwear, According to our Editors

As the temperature rises, there is no better time to start preparing your stylish shoe collection. Summer is all about flaunting the weather-dependent pieces that have been itching to enter back into your closets rotation, and this year the FASHION team is bringing their footwear game to a whole new level. From peep-toed pumps to strappy slip-ons, this season’s coolest footwear finds go far beyond flip-flops.

Deidre Marinelli, Publisher

With its sleek almond-toed silhouette, this shoe embodies that understated coolness that Saint Laurent does so well. The Plexiglas heel creates a floating effect—elevating the classic “naked” shoe into something more modern and directional.

Natalie Michie, Fashion and Features Editor

Last summer, my most stylish friend lent me her cherry-red pierced Tory Burch mules, and they quickly became my personality. The upside-down heel is deceivingly comfortable, and the circular cut-out adds a certain cheeky sexiness. My sights are now set on this baby-blue pair.

Liz Guber, Editor-in-Chief

If you’re going to flirt with the blisters and discomfort that come with summer shoes, you may as well have fun while you’re doing it. To me, these surreal slip-ons with an inverted heel evoke early seasons of Sex and the City—Carrie would covet.

Cessi Trenas, Head of Digital and Social

I’m always in close-toed footwear, but I’m willing to make an exception with these slides. Handmade in the shoe capital of the Philippines, these sandals are crafted from leather, wood and translucent capiz shells.

George Antonopoulos, Senior Creative and Fashion Director

The Dior men’s fisherman sandal keeps things clean and understated for summer. Done in smooth calfskin with a structured woven upper and subtle CD Icon hardware, it strikes a balance between relaxed and refined.

Julia McEwen, Senior Beauty Editor

A heel with all the ease of a flip-flop and absolutely none of the guilt? Immediately, yes. The Vittoria takes something inherently casual and makes it completely undeniable. It reads poolside meets aperitivo hour, and, honestly, that’s the only dress code I’m interested in right now.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s Summer 2026 issue. Read more stories from FASHION’s Summer 2026 issue here and subscribe to the print issue here.