Back when British Vogue published physical trend reports each season, I was sitting on my bedroom floor splicing up the pages to make my own eclectic collages. At risk of sounding like a Gen Xer reminiscing about life before the internet, I’m bitter I chopped up these cultural relics, which, in hindsight, are far more charming than a TikToker with a mini mic running through this season’s stand-out accessories.
Through this obsessive cut-and-stick phase, I developed a borderline obsession with Valentino Rockstuds, which my adolescent brain viewed as the epitome of chic, Parisian glamour. Once the jewel in the crown of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s co-creative directing heyday, the Rockstud subsequently became a forgotten emblem of the 2010s, much like pre-Instagram “fashion bloggers.”
At the end of last year, the internet went into overdrive when The Devil Wears Prada 2 teaser dropped. No, it wasn’t the return of Miranda and the gang that had tongues wagging, it was her shoes: Valentino Rockstuds. “The vertiginous heels transport us back to a very distinct time in fashion,” explained Alice Newbold, while everyone with a fashion-adjacent job was tearing their hair out over this fictional woman’s footwear. “Nothing, fashion thought at the time, spelt out sass quite like a point-toe pump laden with pleasingly symmetrical hardware. Especially when paired with a teeny-tiny dress and a leather jacket.” In the words of Kendall Jenner, “it was the vibe at the time”.
2016 fervour has been sweeping the internet in recent weeks, so it was only a matter of time before we inched back further with the Rockstuds clacking their way into the limelight. This week, Dakota Johnson arrived at the Valentino front row in a cacophony of feathers, leopard and lace paired, of course, with Valentino Rockstuds. Tyla was soon to follow, swapping ab-baring Chanel for low-rise denim and, yes, a pair of Rockstuds. I’m not opposed to a campy throwback, but I’m just not sure I’m ready to revisit these spiky heels just yet.
