These days, the “clackers” immortalised by are conspicuously absent from the (carpeted) halls of British HQ. When it comes to footwear, practicality tends to win out – even when clothes are your job. But this fashion month, it was impossible to miss the sheer volume of slingback kitten heels on the pavements, the dainty shoe emerging as a bridge between our sneakerinas and something a little… sexier. The crucial finishing touch this season? The addition of a sock.

staffer and longtime proponent of the look Violet Hayward insists she refuses to be “silenced by Big Ballet Flat”. “Slingbacks and socks are among the most elite shoe pairings,” she says. “I can get away with skipping a leg shave (although there’s certainly nothing wrong with showing off a bit of scruff); my calloused runners’ heels are thankfully concealed; and no one is traumatised by the sight of my bare feet whilst I swap out my Birkenstocks for 6-inchers.” The busy working woman’s alternative to a bi-monthly pedi, this combination also allows for the pleasing click-clack of a heel on polished concrete without risking blisters.

A word of warning: the sock must be chosen just as carefully as the shoe. Tread (sorry) carefully, and don’t even think about pairing your Saint Laurent slingbacks with a sock from a three-pack leftover from Christmas. Oriana Kubinska, a stylist who is “almost always pro-sock”, recommends something sheer, black or grey “with a delicate or caged slingback… It feels very old Gucci and can make even a simple midi skirt feel ‘styled’,” she explains. “But if it looks like you’re just running out for some milk, it’s the wrong sock…”

Jenni Lee, founder and creative director of Comme Si, says the perfect sock is entirely “dependent on its shoe counterpart”, while Falke’s Kristina Falke previously told that, once you’ve found it, a sock “can uplift a pair of shoes or outfit and make it unique.”

Prada autumn/winter 2026.

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The origin of this alternative take on ladylike style can be traced back to Prada. Sensible skirts, socks and kitten-heels is a formula Mrs Prada has returned to again and again, be it for spring/summer 2001, with its low-slung waistbands and school-uniform greys, the woolly socks of 2007 (reportedly a testament to her penchant for hiking holidays), or the slouchy embroidered pairs spied on her autumn/winter 2026 runway. Socks and slingbacks have been a constant in the Prada-verse, but this autumn the real world beyond the runway is very much on board. We may not be back in full clacker territory yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.