The return of the foot fetish

Last week, the 31-year-old actress Margaret Qualley showed up to the London premiere of her newest film, The Dog Stars, wearing a “barefoot heel cap sandal” from Chanel — a quarter-shoe that has a rumored, up-to $2,700 price tag and is merely a small heel strapped to the instep. The rest of the wearer’s foot, including much of the sole and the toes, touches the ground, unsheathed. “Barefoot” shoes may well be catching on as a trend at the moment, with Jeffrey Campbell’s “A-Pieds,” priced at a more reasonable $50 a pair. The style has obvious provocative and attention-getting qualities, but it’s more noteworthy as a wink and a nod to the huge cultural resurgence of the foot fetish, especially among Gen Z. This phenomenon is appearing in all kinds of non-porn and porn-adjacent content. Quent