Is This Shoe OK? Alexander McQueen's Transparent-Soled Oversized Sneaker

By Maria Sherman | January 22, 2020 | 6:30pm

Beauty Style

Is This Shoe OK? Alexander McQueen's Transparent-Soled Oversized Sneaker

Welcome to Is This Shoe OK?, an infrequent column about shoes that may or may not be good, as determined by me—an authority, because I own shoes—and you, in the comments below. In today’s installment, we’re looking at Alexander McQueen’s Transparent-Soled Oversized Sneaker.

On Wednesday, HYPEBEAST published a blog about Alexander McQueen’s Transparent-Soled Oversized Sneaker. As the opposite of a sneakerhead, most of the description went above, well, my head. But I got the gist: last year, Alexander McQueen released a nearly identical oversized sneaker as the one pictured above, just with an opaque sole. (You know, like what most shoes have at the bottom.) This year, the company has made it translucent. It retails for $690 on the Alexander McQueen website, which I hope partially accounts for the salary of the person responsible for this description:

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Black smooth calf leather lace-up sneaker featuring a transparent oversized sole and a white color dégradé effect heel counter. The sneaker features large flat laces and is finished with an Alexander McQueen signature on tongue and heel counter. Oversized rubber sole with signature stamp design. The sneakers come with an additional set of shoelaces. To lessen our environmental impact and to reduce cotton consumption, we will no longer be providing a dust bag with our sneakers.

MATERIAL: 100% Calfskin

It’s poetry, if you were to break up the lines into stanzas.

Anyway, the design of the shoe itself is fine. One could call it sleek, even. I appreciate that though it is a luxury designer brand, it is not overwhelmed with designer brand logos. However—and this is a big however—my editor Megan Reynolds pointed out that they are essentially just a fancy version of the Nike Air Max 720. And those retail for under $200. She’s not wrong. See for yourself:

Nike is a terrible company rife with human rights violations, so please don’t take this tidbit of information as me suggesting you buy the inexpensive version of the shoes. I am merely reporting the facts, which is sometimes my job. But because the design is so similar, like, bordering on egregious, I’m going to go ahead and say these shoes are not OK.

But what do you think? The floor now belongs to Jezebel readers. Do you think this shoe is okay? Or do you find it to be morally bankrupt? Perhaps you’re completely indifferent but want to make up an opinion to join the conversation. That’s cool, too. I really respect and empathize with that. Get into some fights over transparent shoe soles in the comments below.