If there is one word to describe New York Fashion Week’s fall winter ’23 season, “normal” might be it. After a handful of disorienting seasons (and years) during the pandemic, the fall winter ’23 collections were surprisingly typical, if not a bit quiet in all of the normalcy.
Key tenets of any fall winter season shone through: a focus on great outerwear, practical garments with some splashy evening wear thrown in here and there. Boots, heels, some party shoes. All of the components that make up a well-rounded wardrobe for work, play, office, home, travel and celebration. Back to it.
In all of that normalcy, a crop of statement footwear emerged, from the fantastical (yes, platforms are still, well, big) to the more ladylike, or the quotidien boot. Variation seemed to be the trend itself for the season, instead of any one style silhouette or heel height dominating the runways.
Below, a look at the top 10 shoes of New York Fashion Week’s fall winter ’23 season, from the highest of heels to newest sneakers that walked the runway.
1. Thom Browne clockwork platforms
The designer and newly minted CFDA chairman had a highly anticipated comeback to New York Fashion Week. At The Shed at Hudson Yards, Browne presented a narrative inspired by “The Little Prince,” about two lost travelers exploring time and space. Among the treasure trove of details were bold tweed shoulders, gold wire headpieces and a series of platforms with clocks as heels.
Thom Browne’s clockwork platforms backstage at the fall winter ’23 show. CREDIT: Stefan Doyno/WWD
2. Area x Sergio Rossi banana heels
Area creative director Piotrek Panszczyk took his vision of summertime fruit (and its stages of decay) to full effect, from beauty looks and headpieces all the way down to the shoes, with a series of feather, satin and crystal-accented heels in partnership with Sergio Rossi. A satin and crystal heeled sandal inspired by banana peels nailed the theme in its abstract interpretation and struck the perfect mix of fantasy and wearability.
Banana inspired satin and crystal heels from Area and Sergio Rossi. CREDIT: Courtesy of Sergio Rossi
3. Altuzarra satin combat boots
It was difficult to find them amongst the flowing layers of satins, wools and silks, done in Rorschach, ink blot and shibori prints (creative director Joseph Altuzarra referenced reading tea leaves and part of his inspiration). But underneath a stellar showing of outerwear and evening gowns was a series of combat boots with silk satin uppers, dyed to match the colorful garments. Never has a combat boot looked so elegant and elevated.
Altuzarra’s colorful outerwear and boots to match for fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
A closer look at the satin combat boots on the runway at Altuzarra fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.c
4. Jonathan Simkhai rubber soled boots
Every fall winter season needs a substantial boot, and Jonathan Simkhai struck the right mix of practical and cool, with a black leather knee boot with the sort of relaxed calf shape that’s been prevalent over the past year and a rubber lug sole that was chunky and statement making but also relatively flat and practical for everyday wear.
Jonathan Simkhai fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.c
5. Tory Burch hardware-accented kitten heels
It’s safe to say that Tory Burch flats are a piece of American fashion iconography at this point, but in the designer’s recent creative shifts, Burch has begun to explore how the staple of her brand can go in new and interesting directions, such as it was with this pair of black leather ballerinas, which have a silver hardware ring that oddly but alluringly reads as a piercing-like accent on the toe and a subtle stacked heel to give it just the right elevation.
An update to the quintessential Tory Burch flat, on the runway at the brand’s fall winter ’23 show at New York. Fashion Week. CREDIT: ©Dan & Corina Lecca
6. Heron Preston’s new trainer
After a decade-long slog of flashy but mostly non-functional “fashion sneakers,” Heron Preston’s footwear direction offers a refreshing point of view with a priority on innovation and practicality (for further proof see the designer’s work with 3D-printing company Zellerfeld or collaborations with CAT footwear). For fall winter ’23, Preston brought back his existing Block Stepper, a style that demonstrates the ethos of technicality. He also introduced the Toby Mid Top, a skate style sneaker nostalgic for the ’90s.
The new Toby Mid Top, ’90s inspired skateboard sneaker, on the runway at Heron Preston’s fall winter ’23 show at New York Fashion Week. CREDIT: Giovanni Giannoni for WWD
7. Christian Cowan ankle wrap platforms
The fall winter ’23 season has already proven that platforms are here to stay as a reliable shoe for one’s arsenal of glamour. Last season, Cowan adorned them with frothy feathers (where they walked the runway alongside a buzzy Crocs collab), all part of the designer’s push into footwear. This season, they stood alone, strappy, metallic and with a curved pedestal heel. Bonus points go to the latex hosiery with individualized toes.
A metallic lace-up pedestal platform on the runway at Christian Cowan fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Rodin Banica for WWD
8. Dion Lee scrunched knee boots
The Australian designer has quietly built up his footwear business since launching the category in 2018. This season, Lee had everything from cutout booties to sexed-up thigh-high stilettos. But the style destined to be a hit is a chunky soled black leather boot with a distinct slouch, a quintessential cool boot that epitomized the designer’s snake-shedding-its-skin theme of the collection.
Scrunched boots at Dion Lee fall winter ’23. CREDIT: photo: Alessandro Viero / Gorunw
9. Aknvas x Stuart Weitzman ruffled thigh-highs
In one of the standout footwear collaborations of New York Fashion Week, Stuart Weitzman Head of Design Edmundo Castillo, Aknvas founder and designer Christian Juul Neilsen created a series of custom shoes that riffed on the ruffles featured throughout the fall winter ’23 collection. The standout was a pair of black thigh-high ruffled boots that matched an origami-ruffled mini dress with a dramatic shoulder.
Stuart Weitzman’s ruffled thigh-highs on the runway at Aknvas fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Courtesy of brand
10. Puppets and Puppets egg shoes
Designer Carly Mark’s art project turned fashion label explored themes of food this season, and no garment or accessory was left untouched — no surprise from a brand whose bestselling item is a handbag with cookies on it. Marks incorporated eggs into various parts of the collection, fried or over easy, covering bras and dripping down the toes of a pair sandy suede brogues. Could this be the brand’s new food-inspired accessory of the season?
Puppet and Puppets fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Getty Images
Egg splattered shoes at Puppets and Puppets fall winter ’23. CREDIT: Getty Images
