Not to brag, but I spent most of my life in a house half a minute away from the beach, so spotting the official start of summer was never exactly difficult. Now I live in a city, where tourists in sharongs and aggressively oversized woven hats begin appearing sometime around still-cold spring, walking around like every street corner leads directly to Santorini. My indicator, however, has stayed the same for years: Havaianas on the street. There’s always a small moment of investigation involved, are they being worn by the tourist above or a person who genuinely means it? This time though, I looked down to a denim hem and found Isabel Marant in the form of Havaianas. Summer is definitely here.
I didn’t always find flip-flops easy to justify (this is being written with an open tab of already-purchased square ones), but this season I can admit they’ve finally grown on me. I still think they’re hard to style, and I still encounter far more outfits I wouldn’t personally defend than ones I would, but here we are. Isabel Marant, on the other hand, never really had that problem. “To me, they represent the Brazilian quintessence of joy, freedom, and summer nonchalance,” she tells Vogue. Now, they also come with a layer of Parisian je ne sais quoi, and to be honest, I wouldn’t even flinch if I saw them at a party that has never seen sand in its life.
The collaboration moves between two silhouettes. The first is a reworked version of the classic Top Havaianas (available in red and beige), this time layered with Isabel Marant’s signature prints and finishes. The second pair, arguably the standout, comes in black and cream, with a more structured, almost inflated construction: voluminous straps, faux leather, and rounded silver studs, making it feel closer to a jacket than a flip-flop. One you’ve also accidentally stepped into.
