In 2021, Victoria Beckham took one look at Justin Bieber’s lavender-hued Crocs and said “I think I’d rather die.” That was possibly the last time Bieber sent Beckham a press gift from his Drew House fashion line, but over the past few years, even the most cold-blooded aesthetes have given into the amphibious clog. Once beloved by garden centre personnel and auxiliary nurses, fashion designers like Demna have spent years committing themselves to rehabilitating the shoe’s public image to such an extent that even Beckham seems to have ignored her own fashion rules.
Last night, VB slipped her toes into a gargantuan, shin-high iteration of the controversial slip-on. The behemoth Croot is the latest in the brand MSCHF’s meme-adjacent creations, which have so far included speck-sized handbags, $76,000 Birkin-stocks, and Lil Nas X’s blood-infused Nikes. They are also the climax in a steady accretion of unlikely summer shoes, which has seen Beckham photographed in peep-toe boots and fishnet pantaboots over the past few months.
Perhaps the former Spice Girl has been watching the “wrong shoe theory” TikTok. And given Beckham’s footwear has historically been in service to saucer-sized sunnies and LBDs – with each shoe an experiment in core balance – that might explain her lean into the more unusual side of things. It’s all part of the mythology that collects around Beckham – the posh one who refuses to smile because it would be doing a disservice to the fashion community – but as seen here and here, Beckham’s sense of humour is as disobedient and self-effacing as a Big Yellow Croot.
