Confession: I have never owned Crocs. I have only worn them once in my life, borrowing a pair to run down a hill and photograph a mailbox that reminded me of Wes Anderson. As someone who ascribes to a fashion philosophy of dressing appropriately for an activity, I have never needed to wear Crocs. I don’t garden, go to the beach or partake in anything that would require a waterproof clog. And my mother, who raised five children, didn’t bother paying over $10 for children’s shoes we’d soon grow out of. But as an adult, I’ve found myself feeling…adventurous. Last year I wore Birkenstocks for the first time. I liked the sneaker version so much I bought a pair of sandals for house slippers. And it’s with this newfound open-mindedness that I started pondering Crocs. The brand’s launch of ballet-inspired styles sealed my fate, and that’s how I ended up with a pair of Crocs Classic Ballet Flats ($45). Here are my thoughts as a ballet flat aficionado who’s been wearing the style for the past 24 years.
Crocs Makes Ballet Flats Now. Could They Win Me, a Crocs Skeptic, Over?
Bewilderment and joy in equal measure
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Crocs
Admittedly, when I read PureWow Editor-in-Chief Jillian Quint’s ode to her own Crocs, I was skeptical. But the fact that she, too, had gone from being a holdout to having her son beg her to return his pair she’d been “borrowing” was too convincing to ignore.
“My kids have long espoused the Jibbitz-encrusted plastic hooves, which fall somewhere between gardening clog, water shoe and orthopedic prescription,” she wrote. “But then something happened: My son started to wear my shoe-size and I started just trying out his Crocs. First, I’d pop them on to bring out the trash. Then, to run to the car real quick. But suddenly, I was fully out-and-about in my fifth grader’s camo Crocs—strutting to the corner store like an E.R.-nurse-Taylor-Swift, popping over to a neighbor’s in a Jenni Kayne sweater and trousers.”
Crocs
If that wasn’t enough of a sell (I love a good Jenni Kayne sweater myself), it was Quint’s glowing words when it came to her actual feet. As someone with self-described gnarly feet, my ears always perk up when a fellow sufferer raves about any sort of shoe. And thus she wrote:
“I won’t get into the indignities of my feet, but my lord! The toe-bed! The cushioning! The king-sized berth that allows each bunion and corn its own special pillow!”
That was it. I was a goner. A few days later, a pair of Crocs arrived at my apartment. I was equal parts elated and horrified. (For the record, I barely wear sneakers. My uniform usually includes a pair of flats from Margaux, a New York-based, French inspired footwear brand.) When I met my friend at Penn Station a few days later for a Swiftie Pennsylvania getaway, I whispered, half-despair, half-hope, “I got Crocs!” The delivery, I guess, leaned so much towards despair that at first my friend thought I had said, “I got crabs!” Which was, at that point, perhaps not far off from the same feeling of bewilderment?
Crocs
Bewilderment, as it turned out, was the right feeling. It was cognitive dissonance as my feet (flat, bunions and all) gave a little sigh of contentment. Then I looked down and thought, “Wow, actually these are kinda cute!” All while an alarm bell went off screaming “You’re wearing Crocs and you’re not gardening?!” In fact, this shoe is so OOC for me that even my roommates were in awe. Oh, Marissa, Isabelle told me you got Crocs?! was the refrain of the week.
And, these suckers have proven themselves rather versatile. Jeans and a T-shirt? Crocs. Flouncy summer dress in the same color family (red, in my case)? Crocs somehow worked. Polka dot matching set? Crocs. An aesthetic choice, to be sure, but Crocs. While not something I thought I’d gravitate toward, these ballet flats have every quality I wish my more “work appropriate” shoes offered. Namely, that I’m not having a Cinderella-ugly-stepsisters moment trying to squeeze shoes onto my wide feet. Plus, the strap can be worn two ways, and I love a shoe that can give a two-for-one look. In one little flick of the wrist, the Crocs ballet flats can turn into a Mary Jane.
So, yeah, consider me converted. The war of attrition has been won, and if that makes me the loser, I can say that at the very least, I am a comfortable, happy little loser. *Squeakily walks away in Crocs.*
Fast Facts
- Colors: 3
- Size range: US 4 to 11
