The micro trend I’m calling the soft boy shoe. You might also know it as the sock shoe, has been quietly picking up steam, and the number of online stores carrying the silhouette doesn’t lie. Think ballerina-soft, almost apologetically gentle in shape. Not something I was sold on immediately. But then I started mentally styling it, throwing it under something harder, more street-coded and suddenly it clicked. This shoe has range. It can carry a look that needs to work on more than one level. The leather has a worn-in softness to it that reads comfortable without trying. And the minimal, clean-cut finish keeps it from feeling too costume-y. My one reservation? The round toe isn’t really my thing. Which is why the William Strouch version, with that slightly more angled tip, feels like the one I’d actually reach for.
