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There’s only so much innovation you can bring to boot trends – and perhaps that’s just fine? (If it ain’t broke etc…) So rather than designing levitating platforms or jet-pack heels, this season designers revisited some of the most tried-and-tested silhouettes from the past. Courrèges, for instance, revived the flat-soled boots of the ’60s; Toteme brought back the fitted styles of the ’70s; and Acne Studios rehabilitated the kind of cowboy boots Jessica Simpson once famously spent the ’00s walking in. Here’s a look at the retro-inflected boots worth investing in. ’60s flat boots If André Courrèges gained international success with his April 1964 couture collection featuring short skirts anchored to flat ankle boots, Nicolas Di Felice reimagined them for spring/summer 2026 – this time in baggy, belted, shin-length versions. ’70s fitted boots They were the stars of the 1970s – see Sophia Loren wearing a knee-high pair to the Dior Haute Couture show in 1974 beneath a fluid shirt dress – often in vibration-raising shades of citrus and set on square heels. The fitted boots of 2025 are a little more minimalist, worn alongside full-look monochrome and topped with a micro heel. ’80s thigh-high boots Sexy, assertive, and unmistakably boom-boom, thigh-high boots were synonymous with the likes of Madonna and Grace Jones in the 1980s. These days, they’re returning in high-shine finishes and worn with microdresses, as was seen on Stella McCartney’s catwalk. ’90s square-toe boots The most memorable iteration of the 1990s-indebted square-toe boot came via the Mugler catwalk, where new creative director Miguel Castro Freitas embraced a second-skin fit. 2000s Western boots If Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour and Bella Hadid’s rodeo lifestyle had somehow passed you by, the Western aesthetic and their subsequent boot trends are still very much in. Take Acne Studios’ most recent presentation, for instance, where models wore (almost) thigh-high versions of the classic cowboy boot. This story first appeared in Vogue.fr. Grunge plaid dresses of the '90s have made a return 8 foolproof ways to wear ankle boots 5 sneakers from the ’90s that are making a major comeback
