The Only Shoe You’ll Need This Fall Is Chic, French, and Surprisingly Versatile

Let me start out by saying I’ve never been a uniform-dressing type of girl, especially when it comes to footwear. Scattered in the base of my closet is everything from torn-up sneakers to prim kitten heels, each reserved for certain occasions and outfits. I’d like it to be easier; I’d like to not have shoes haunting every corner of my small apartment. But one shoe that works with everything never seemed like much of a possibility—until, that is, I saw the Fall 2015 Chanel show. Leave it to Karl Lagerfeld to change my mind.

Down that tile-floored runway in Lagerfeld’s imagined Brasserie Gabrielle strutted 93 Fall looks—tweed-clad flaneuses, napkin-hemmed waitresses, and iconic Parisian belles-filles—all standing tall in the exact same shoe silhouette, the ringard (as per the Parisian parlance). The beige-and-black capped-toe slingback, a perennial favorite of Mme. Chanel herself, carried everything from a sporty knit set on Shu Pei Qin to a fluttering sheer cocktail frock on Cara Delevingne without missing a step. Suddenly, becoming a one-shoe kind of gal just seemed so right: Not only would it help clear the clutter in my closet, I thought, but imagine all the extra time I’d have to focus on ankle-up affairs!

My own pair of Chanel slingbacks arrived early this week, and I immediately began trying to conceive of outfits to highlight or coordinate with the chic silhouette: perfect for prim Parisian dresses or best with boyfriend jeans? The mind reeled. After two days spent on opposite sides of the spectrum (first, a white mini sundress, next, oversize wide-leg jeans), I realized that I was going against the whole point of this project—they’re supposed to go with everything, so why not try them with everything? In the following days they added polish to a pair of cropped jeans and a bandana, helped bring a retro rainbow crocheted top with flares into the here and now, and added just the right amount of uptown glam to a super-short red minidress. Every time, with every look, the slingback was aesthetically right. (The trick, I think, is the slightly pointed toe: just uppity enough to work with a cocktail dress but also casual enough to elevate the sloppiest outfit.) But their innate versatility—and the near-ceaseless compliments I received from my coworkers—wasn’t the only thing keeping me grounded: Comfort is key. The heel was low enough that I could break into a light jog gunning it across the subway platform, the leather and elastic strap kept them secured to my foot through long walks up the West Side Highway, and the toe was roomy enough to accommodate my wide, pointe shoe–destroyed feet.

After several days of all-Chanel-all-the-time, the other shoes cluttering my life just seemed superfluous. These do-it-all slingbacks had turned the most commitment-phobic shoe bachelorette into a serious monogamist. Forget saying yes to a dress, I’m saying I do to these shoes.

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