Celebs Who Got Caught Wearing The Most Outdated Shoe Trends

If there's one item of clothing that fashionistas are fickle and unpredictable over, it's shoes. Heck, who would have thought '80s F1 driver shoes like the Puma Speedcat would be trendy in 2025? Or there'd be a major loafer renaissance in 2024? It's like trying to predict the stock market or a Donald Trump-era election. Just don't bother. In the 2020s, trends are changing quicker than ever. Whether it's the micro-trends of TikTok or acceleration in fast fashion, it's easy to go from trendy to tired in the space of a month.

"The irony is that the more people partake in a trend, the more people want to move on to the next one, creating a vicious cycle of newness and content about said newness," writes José Criales-Unzueta in i-D regarding our ever-changing trends. "It's easy to fall prey to it all, especially when FOMO comes into the equation." With all that in mind, let's take a look at celebs who got their footwear trend cycles a little off.

Amal Clooney is a woman of many talents, except for having her finger on the fashionable footwear pulse. At least, that was true when she was spotted with husband George Clooney, who defines ageing like a fine wine, at an event for The King's Trust.

A level of timelessness is important when meeting a monarch like King Charles. Her footwear, however, was like a 2012 relic. Amal wore silver and PVC pumps, a look popular early in the 2010s that had a brief resurgence in 2016. The look felt very outdated at the royal rendezvous.

The enfant terribles of New York fashion, MSCHF, made a name for themselves with their meme-ready kicks. Whether it's their Mario-inspired boots or backwards sneakers, the art collective's footwear is made for the fickle and funny internet age.

So, when the former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was pictured in MSCHF's yellow Croc boots (which retail at a staggering $450) in 2023, the internet had already gotten bored of their shenanigans. "[T]hese ain't it," said one X user underneath a post about the avant-garde kicks' release date. "[T]he hype is dead."

So far, this list has featured celebrities getting to the party late. But when Rishi Sunak wore a pair of Adidas Sambas, he was the one to clear the dance floor, so to speak. They went from trendy to taboo from the moment he was photographed in them.

"I issue a fulsome apology to the Samba community," said Sunak in the aftermath (via the Guardian). "But, in my defence, I would say I have been wearing Adidas sneakers including Sambas — and others, in fact — for many, many years." However, the damage was done.

Although wedges have gained popularity in the mid-2020s, Zoe Saldana missed the trend. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2025, Saldana wore off-trend Saint Laurent strappy wedges. The French fashion house also designed the costumes for her movie "Emila Perez", which screened at Cannes the previous year. It would have been more on-trend if she'd worn them then.

The wedge heel trend had re-emerged in 2024, thanks to Chemena Kamali's debut collection at Chloé. However, by 2025, the quick cyclical nature of modern trends had rendered it firmly uncool again.

When Zendaya steps onto the Met Gala red carpet, the camera bulbs flash brighter and the live-bloggers type quicker. Her 2025 outfit caused a stir, but her choice of footwear left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, most of the actor's blushes were spared by the '70s-inspired tailoring of her suit, which covered her out-of-trend heels. The "Challengers" star wore Jimmy Choo Max platforms — with an impressive 5.9-inch heel – when the trend cycle had already moved on from platforms. By 2025, it was all about the simpler, chicer slingback.

Most of Hailey Bieber's stunning post-pregnancy looks have had us floored. Her return to the Met Gala in 2025 was no exception, her footwear choice aside. Like Zendaya, the billion-dollar beauty mogul, missed the mark with her black platform heels.

Unlike Zendaya, Bieber's outfit didn't hide her heels, but exposed them. She wore a black tuxedo jacket, tights, and... little else aside from a dirty martini in hand and jewelry around her neck. Despite being a trendsetter, Bieber got her trend cycles confused this time.

"Short n' Sweet" singer Sabrina Carpenter has become synonymous with stratospheric platforms. But that means she's a victim of the ever-changing whims of fashion. Carpenter's signature '60s and '70s style, curated in collaboration with her stylist Jared Ellner, is timeless but not always on-trend.

This is particularly true when it comes to her footwear. Her oft-worn white platforms would have been the talk of the town in the mid-20th century. But in 2025, those shoes weren't why Carpenter was on FYPs everywhere.

By 2025, the Barbie pink trend was long gone. But, at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025, the model Daria Konovalova was still rocking the look inspired by a film that had hit cinemas two years prior.

Her bright pink snakeskin Vivienne Westwood platform Ghillie heels were certainly a look, but not one that was on-trend. These heels were anything but minimalist, and 2025 was the year of minimalist footwear like the sleek sandal or crochet flats.

The Maison Margiela Tabi went mainstream in 2023. With a quick Google search, you'll find no shortage of memes from fashionistas holding vapes or wine glasses between the shoe's split toes. But you'll also find many critics of the 15th-century Japan-inspired look.

In 2024, the shoe reached its apex of popularity, and fashion writers were already looking elsewhere for the next attention-grabbing slip-on. However, Emma Chamberlain was still wearing them in May 2025, clearly not concerned about being left behind by trend cycles.

If a boy band becomes a man band with age, does an it-girl become an it-woman? Regardless of whether she's an it-woman or an it-girl, Alexa Chung remains firmly it. Chung's fans envy her brunette looks and her beloved classic jeans and flats combo.

However, her choice of PVC heels at the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards was an exception that proves the rule for this ever-on-trend Brit. Chung, being the First Lady of Indie Sleeze, has a little more grace than most when reviving a trend synonymous with the Y2K and the early '10s. But that doesn't mean it was trendy for 2025.

"Are the Prada loafers a timeless piece or is it just a trend?" asked one Reddit thread in 2024. "These ones, 100% a trend," came a reply. Indeed, the chunky Prada loafer had a chokehold on social media in 2020. But by June 2025, when Lily James stepped out in New York wearing the kicks, they were as tired as a marathon runner crossing the finish line.

With the shoes reissued in 2019, they quickly became a trend as we exited heels and entered lockdown. With trends moving ever faster, ironically partly as a result of lockdown, five years later these shoes were untrendy.

On the set of Lena Dunham's "Good Sex", Natalie Portman's look was already out of style before the film even came out. It's an issue for any and every film, whose gestation period usually takes anywhere between one and three years. Thus, trends are subject to change.

Portman wore loafer mules while shooting in New York City, a shoe which, by 2025, was at the end of its trend lifecycle. By the film's release, it will undoubtedly be doubly off-trend.

Billie Eilish's staple style is Y2K. It's all polo shirts and three-quarter-lengths for the "WILDFLOWER" singer. It's a look that's been in style since circa 2021 and remained on Pinterest mood boards for years. However, the trend has always had rose-tinted glasses for the early '00s. It's more tasteful low-rise jeans than gaudy color combos. A yassified version of the era.

Eilish's all-black Etnies, which she wore in 2025, certainly fall into the latter category. They are shoes that should've been left in the real Y2K. Although the famous chunky skater shoe is very Eilish, they're at odds with the 2025 trend of sleeker, subtler shoes.

Balenciaga's ability to capture the internet's attention is unmatched. They're like a couture MSCHF. However, it also means their looks can go out of style as quickly as they came in. As Elliot Page found out when they wore their collab with Crocs, again very MSCHF, in 2021.

Page's platform Crocs were studded, with a metal plate emblazoned with the Balenciaga logoon the toe. But such platform Crocs, had been a staple of Demna Gvasalia's Balenciaga since 2017. By 2021, the irony was running thin.

Katy Perry is known for being the queen of camp and kitsch. So, we should've seen it coming when, at the annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Hollywood, the "Bon Appétit" singer wore a $2,495 pair of LED light-up Jimmy Choos. The five-inch platforms cost her a lot of money, and also a lot of style.

Although light-up isn't necessarily out of style and many a fashion house has attempted the look (cc: Balenciaga, Chanel). It's more a trend you grow out of, usually after your first school dance.

Sometimes a brand attempts to create a trend, and it just doesn't work at all... This was certainly the case with the New Balance loafers. Yes, you read that right. The New Balance loafers, as worn by Jaden Smith at the Met Gala in 2025. 

The pair Smith wore were unreleased patent leather, unlike the more commercial grey versions. Instead of picking up steam, however, this attempt at trendsetting fizzled out and signaled the death knell for the loafer trend.

Like Billie Eilish and her Y2K style, Olivia Rodrigo seems to be wedded to her Dr. Martens. Her platform combat boots are part of her wardrobe both on stage and off, but that doesn't mean they'll stay in style forever.

At her Glastonbury headline set in 2025, Rodrigo stepped onto stage in her Dr. Martens platform boots. But, sadly for the "pretty isn't pretty" singer, in summer 2025, platforms were not on trend. Sorry, Liv.

Jeremy Allen White wasn't the first celeb to go shoeless, but we're not sure 2023's no-shoe trend ever caught on. What's more, "The Bear" cast member wasn't on a beach and it wasn't 2023. He went barefoot on the L.A. streets in 2024. Yikes.

Shoes have been a staple of humans' wardrobe since Otzi the Iceman wore sandals in 40,000 BCE, and they became a worldwide trend between 10,000 and 1000 BCE. Perhaps shoes are humans' longest-term trend? Despite celebrities' attempts change it, not wearing shoes is inherently untrendy.

At Cannes 2025, Irina Shayk wore a classy, dressed-down look. However, her footwear shouldn't be seen outside of a gym. Her chunky white Nikes fell out of fashion by the end of 2024, and the trends, as they so often do, went in the opposite direction.

Instead, 2025 saw the boom of slim sneakers, like the Puma Speedcat or Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66. Unfortunately, for Shayk, she missed the boat on this one.

With soccer being the world's most popular sport, it's no surprise that its influence has bled into fashion. Whether it's soccer jerseys or the aforementioned Adidas Sambas, there's a strong relationship between the two.

However, as with any trend, there are always people who take it too far. At least, that's what Rosalía did when she stepped out before the 2025 Met Gala. The "SAOKO" singer donned a pair of New Balance studded soccer cleats as she walked into her hotel. Although the trend gained some traction on TikTok, unlike the Sambas, you're still seeing most people only wear cleats on the soccer pitch.

Divorces are hard, and there's no right way to deal with them. But we probably wouldn't suggest rocking your exes' footwear, not least when they've gone out of style. But that's exactly what Kim Kardashian did when she posted a candid selfie in 2023 wearing a pair of Adidas Yeezy Boost 700s.

The shoe was designed by her ex-husband, Ye (F.K.A. Kanye West), who she divorced in 2021. Yeezys were uber-trendy upon their limited release in 2015. But by 2023, when they were widely available, and no longer an arbiter of cool. So it's a wonder why Kardashian, whose Instagram is so carefully curated, chose them.

The rapper Playboi Carti is as influential in fashion as he is in music. Maybe even more influential in fashion than music. He's inspired the trend Opiumcore, named after his label, that saw like-minded youths don all black.

Even with this fashion clout, Playboi Carti couldn't bring Timberlands back from the early 2000s. The rapper wore them in Instagram posts, on stage while performing with Ye and got custom versions of the kicks. But, for many, Timberlands will never be cool again.

It turns out that an idea of the future from 1989 isn't really that futuristic, at least when it comes to the shoes seen in "Back to the Future Part II". So it's baffling why Travis Kelce, who's had a rumored history of cheating, chose to buy these shoes for around ten grand. 

They're shoes that look remarkably normal by modern standards, and they're definitely not in style. Although some '80s trends did come back in style in 2025, '80s trends that were meant to mimic the future did not.

In 2019, Justin Bieber stepped out in a pair of logo-heavy Louis Vuitton slippers, alongside his wife Hailey Bieber. The slippers' retail price is a whopping $1,520 as of this publication, but Bieber got his money's worth by showing the shoes off to the paparazzi.

Although slippers came back into style in 2024, Bieber can't be seen as a style pioneer. The slippers that became trendy were a lot less brand-heavy. Even if Bieber was onto something, it wasn't necessarily in style.

Benson Boone is a divisive figure. He's often accused of copying Harry Styles' on-stage fashion and has made it into our list of worst-dressed celebs at the 2025 AMAs. So maybe it's no surprise that even into 2025, Boone wore Samba-like Adidas sneakers, long after former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made them untrendy.

The "Beautiful Things" singer has strutted and backflipped in his Adidas throughout 2025. Perhaps word hadn't yet reached the long-touring Boone that everyone was over the shoe thanks to Sunak.