Closed-toe flats replace flip-flops in a French-girl summer update

Alexa Chung’s calf-length Reformation skirt, paired with ballet flats, a green cap and a relaxed white shirt, made the case for a sharper summer silhouette without looking try-hard. Natalie Munro turned that Instagram sighting into an “Alexa knows best” moment in Who What Wear’s June 20 fashion-news item, and the message was clear: closed-toe flats and mules now read as the more polished answer to flip-flops.

That shift matters because it changes the mood of effortless dressing. Flip-flops still belong at the beach, but city wear asks for something cleaner at the toe and easier on worn sidewalks. Closed-toe flats keep the look light enough for warm weather while giving skirts and dresses a neater finish, which is exactly why the silhouette feels more like a summer update than a rejection of casual style.

Who What Wear has been building this case for a while. The site has already said French women wear versatile summer shoe silhouettes with jeans, skirts and dresses, and it has separately pointed to black closed-toe mules as a recurring Parisian favorite. Ballet flats keep surfacing too, which is why Chung’s outfit landed with such immediate French-girl energy: the formula is simple, but the effect is unmistakably city-ready. Munro’s headline, “Don’t Like Flip-Flops? This Closed-Toe Shoe and Skirt Combo Is So French-Girl-Coded,” captured that pivot in one line.

The appetite for that sort of styling remains huge. Fashionista reported in 2022 that TikTok videos tagged “French-girl style” had reached 372 million views, while “French beauty” had climbed to 15 billion. That scale explains why a small shoe swap can still feel like a full fashion moment: readers are not just looking for inspiration, they are looking for a shorthand they can actually wear tomorrow.

There is also a longer lineage behind the flat-shoe comeback. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says Claire McCardell worked with Capezio in 1953 to adapt soft ballet slippers to streetwear, helping set a precedent for everyday shoes that look delicate but function in real life. The museum also notes that fashion shoes document changing aesthetic taste and design techniques over time, which is exactly what this summer turn away from flip-flops toward closed-toe polish reflects.