There are few items that encompass my utter hatred for ugly footwear and uglier prices more accurately than the near-thousand dollar Tabi boots. For those lucky enough to have never set eyes on these monstrosities, they’re split-toed boots made of upscale leather that not-so-subtly resemble horse hooves and camel toes. They look like a slightly more socially acceptable (emphasis on slightly) version of toe socks – except they’re $990 at minimum and are considered fashionable. Aside from maybe giving these shoes to Grover, the satyr from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, to complement his goat feet beautifully, I can’t think of a single instance where these shoes would be appropriate.

However, my concern is less about the look of the shoes themselves and more about what this trend could mean for fashion in the future. If horse-hoof boots become the standard, who’s to say that million-dollar lizard-toe sandals aren’t next? Our society can’t survive an overpriced animal footwear trend. The economy might collapse under the weight of thousand-dollar ferret shoes, everyone would eventually be driven mad by the constant sight of atrocious footwear, and the world as we know it would be thrown into chaos.
For some consumers, the thousand-dollar price tag and the promise of participating in a niche, high-end fashion trend is enough for them to overlook the fact that Tabis look like high heels for horses, playing into the idea that expensive and designer always means better. These shoes symbolize the rising popularity of unnecessarily expensive fashion trends that are creating a metaphorically gated fashion community. Fashion shouldn’t be about whether or not you can afford the next wildly expensive, trendy pair of shoes; it should be about individualism and self-expression.