Tyla wears clear-heel Jeffrey Campbell wedges at World Cup opening ceremony

Tyla turned the World Cup opening ceremony into a clear-heel moment with real pull. In Mexico City on June 11, 2026, she sang the South African national anthem before South Africa faced Mexico in the tournament’s opening Group A match, and she did it in Jeffrey Campbell’s Booyah wedges, a transparent, cutout wedge sandal that made the case for the barest kind of statement shoe.

The Booyah is exactly the sort of heel that keeps resurfacing when fashion wants polish without heaviness. Its clear vinyl strap and see-through heel give it that light, almost floating finish, while the wedge keeps it easier to read on a performance stage than a spindly stiletto would have been. At about $170, it sits in a very different lane from the custom, high-luxury footwear usually reserved for red carpets, which is part of why the look lands. It suggests that the transparent-shoe trend is no longer just a runway footnote. It is a workable summer shoe story with enough shine to hold up under stadium lights.

The dress sharpened the point. Coverage described Tyla’s look as color-blocked and built in South African flag colors, with an optical-illusion effect and a sculptural flounce that referenced the vuvuzela. That detail mattered. The silhouette was not just patriotic, it was performative, turning a national-symbol moment into something visually immediate enough for a global broadcast. Against that backdrop, the clear heels read less like a novelty and more like a styling decision that let the dress and anthem remain the center of gravity.

The scale of the occasion only increased the fashion stakes. FIFA said the Mexico City ceremonies would celebrate football, music and culture and mark the start of the biggest World Cup in history. The 2026 tournament runs from June 11 to July 19 and features 48 countries and 104 matches, which means the opening-stage performances are now operating as some of the most visible style stages in the world. Tyla has already built momentum through campaigns and red-carpet appearances, and this one extended that profile with a look that was youthful, globally legible and easy to copy. In a summer where transparent shoes could have drifted toward novelty, Tyla made them feel current, accessible and ready for the biggest audience in sport.