Katie Holmes backs 2026 thong heels for white dresses
Katie Holmes turned a white gala dress into a case for thong heels, choosing tan suede sandals that make summer whites look sharper and less expected.
White dresses can slip toward sweet or bridal fast. Katie Holmes gave hers a cleaner, more current finish at the American Ballet Theatre’s Spring Gala in New York City, where she was honored on May 20, 2026, and stepped out in a long peplum-style white dress with high-heel thong sandals in tan suede.
The choice mattered because it changed the entire read of the outfit. Instead of reaching for the usual strappy metallic heel, Holmes wore a softer, earthier shoe that Who What Wear said adds a bit of ruggedness to white dresses of any style. That is the capsule wardrobe appeal here: the sandal is dressy enough for evening, but the tan suede keeps it from feeling locked to one occasion. It gives a white dress more edge than a delicate satin heel and more polish than the flat sandals many people default to in summer.
The sandals were identified as Herbert Levine’s Kiss And Tell, a 100mm boudoir-inspired thong sandal with a mini buckle strass detail. The brand calls it “minimal yet daring,” and says it evokes the golden era of cinema. That mix of delicacy and attitude is exactly why the silhouette lands now. It reads refined from a distance, then reveals its sharper personality up close, which is the kind of dual-purpose piece a small wardrobe can actually use.
Holmes’s appearance also had the right setting behind it. Caroline Kennedy served as honorary chair of the gala, which supports ABT performances, education programs, and community initiatives. Holmes has long backed the company, and she attended with her mother, Kathleen Holmes, in a look that included an Ashlyn dress and about $80,000 worth of diamond jewelry, making the sandals feel like part of a polished evening uniform rather than a novelty trend.
The larger signal is that thong heels are not just a one-night styling trick. Who What Wear called them the “dressed-up sister” of flip-flops, noted that spring and summer 2026 runways leaned into toe-baring versions in wedge and kitten-heel forms, and reported Google searches for “thong heels” were up 40% that month. That is the kind of shoe that earns space next to your best white dress, because it can travel from vacation dinners to daytime events to the simplest summer outfits without looking overdone.
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