Katie Holmes makes tan suede thong sandals feel quietly luxurious

The most persuasive summer shoe right now is not the jeweled heel or the logo slide. It is the tan suede thong sandal, worn with just enough restraint to make a white dress look longer, softer and far more expensive than anything trying too hard to impress.

Katie Holmes made that case at American Ballet Theatre’s 2026 Spring Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, where the actress was honored in a long peplum-style white dress and high-heel thong sandals in versatile tan suede. The pairing worked because it stayed inside the old-money code: pale fabric, muted leather, no shine and a line that kept the eye moving from hem to toe without interruption. On a red carpet crowded with ceremony, the sandals did not compete with the dress. They lengthened it.

The setting mattered. ABT described the evening as a celebration for one of the world’s greatest dance companies, a living national treasure founded in 1939, and the gala format was as formal as the styling. Guests arrived for a 6:30 p.m. cocktail reception, a 7:30 p.m. performance followed, and dinner dancing closed the night. Ticketing ran from a $3,000 fundraising ticket to $6,000 Silver Benefactor and $10,000 Gold Benefactor levels, a reminder that Holmes’s footwear choice was being read in a room where polish is not an accessory but a currency.

What makes the look feel especially current is that it lands exactly where spring/summer 2026 footwear is heading. Who What Wear has pointed to thong heels on the runways and described thong sandals, including suede and minimalist heeled versions, as one of the season’s key sandal trends. Holmes did not make the shoe feel trendy in the disposable sense. She made it feel edited, the way a narrow tan strap against a white skirt can read more luxurious than a heavier, more insistent heel.

There is also a longer history behind the appeal. Britannica traces the oldest known sandal to roughly 10,900 years ago, made from sagebrush bark. That origin story explains why the shape still feels elemental even in a refined, modern wardrobe. Holmes’s version works because it strips the idea down to its cleanest form: low flash, soft neutral color and an unbroken leg line. In a season full of loud styling cues, that is the rare kind of luxury that does not need to announce itself.