| Other designer brands are in on the trend, too. Loewe featured some bulbous boat shoes for autumn/winter and in Aimé Leon Dore’s most recent advertising campaign, Arsenal player Declan Rice wears boat shoes with white socks. A spokesperson for Depop says they are part of a wider trend. “Rumblings of a preppy style revival have been on the cards for some time … the trend cycle appears to be shifting to classic and more conservative looks.” References range from the original Gossip Girl series and JFK in Hyannis to American influencer Emma Chamberlain. Boat shoes have long been associated with the preppy look in the US – worn with polo shirts and chinos by the yacht-owning elite in the Hamptons. In the 1980 bestseller The Official Preppy Handbook, Lisa Birnbach wrote that membership of the preppy elite will be judged on footwear: “The Right Shoes give you a fighting chance.” The Sperry Top-Sider, a classic boat shoe, fitted the bill. In the UK, they were part of the uniform for the equally well-heeled Sloane Ranger in the 1980s. Peter York, the co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger handbook, sees them as shoes “for blokes who like to mess around in boats”. He says wearing them was part of a wider way to signal the trappings of the upper class. “You lived in Parsons Green… [but] you wore Barbours [to say], ‘I’m certainly not part of this urban life.’ That works for boat shoes, too.” The design dates back almost 100 years. Legend has it that sailor Paul Sperry slipped on the deck of his boat and fell overboard. He later noticed his dog could walk on ice without slipping thanks to the texture on its paws, and cut slits into the bottom of his rubber shoes, meaning more grip on a wet surface. He launched the Sperry Top-Sider in 1935. Other brands followed, including Sebago, GH Bass and Timberland, and the designs became a favoured footwear of those with enough disposable income to own a boat. | 