Miu Miu’s Frankenstein shoes proves that ugly is better

As it is at Prada, there’s is a different approach to appealing at Miu Miu, especially when it comes to footwear. The brand does not do beautiful the way many expect or even demand. They like going against the grain. And as any cook knows about cutting meat, that is a better way to achieving deliciousness. Miu Miu adopts the same approach in cutting and assembling leather. Their latest footwear—a collaboration with New Balance—seems to be hacked and cobbled together in a way that defies a more elegant way of making shoes, specifically sneaker hybrids. But the results are more tasteful than many of today’s footwear, approached more traditionally in their make.

With their latest outing with New Balance (a partnership that began in 2022), Miu Miu took the latter’s highly popular 530 and turned it into something less seemly that the original (even if the undoctored version was considered part of the still unceasing ugly sneaker trend) and turned it into something somewhat beastly. The sneaker was given a leather upper, with vintage effect and unstained seaming, and, in the rear, lobbed off, exposing the heel like a pair of, well, mules. Miu Miu is not, of course, the first brand to pick a New Balance sneaker and reimagine it. Junya Watanabe’s take of the 1906 comes to mind. And with the trend that sees sneakers looking beside themselves (Mizuno’s Wave Prophecy Moc!) going strong, Miu Miu’s latest will tread, if not run, far.

New Balance X Miu Miu 530 SL, SGD1,690, is available at Miu Miu. Photo: Miu Miu