Say What You Want, But Emily Ratajkowski’s Worn Out Loafers Are the Ultimate Fashion Flex

BY DANIEL RODGERS

August 18, 2023

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Scuffed and bruised and hanging on for dear life, Emily Ratajkowski’s loafers have lived a long and gruelling existence, their hardships etched into hand-waxed buffalo leather. Wrinkled, deflated and collapsing from the contours of the foot, these former loafers have accompanied the model to the Cannes Film Festival and to H&M activations and on countless paparazzi strolls around Manhattan.

Here is a shoe that has seen things. A benign wizard, a priest with burst capillaries and a taste for sacramental wine, an ageing Mediterranean sitting on a plastic chair in a vest and high-waisted slacks. I would like to wheel them out into a garden and say, “It is enough, please rest”, and let them bake in the sun like a couple of sun-dried tomatoes. These loafers are also the most authentic example of “old money” to have entered the celeb-scape, which is a power move.

For those with extreme amounts of wealth, a raddled item that’s been worn umpteen times is more of a status symbol than a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Monaco Yacht Club”, or something. And that Ratajkowski – who I presume has box-fresh Adidas Sambas on tap – should return to these well-loved (if not disintegrating) loafers, reminds me of how the Olsens give their Birkin bags permission to age. There’s no point being precious about fashion, clothes are there to be lived in.

Shop a selection of model-approved loafers, below.