Birkenstock and Manolo Blahnik: is this the most unlikely fashion pairing ever?

The maker of comfy sandals has hired Blahnik – famed for its luxury stilettos – to jazz up its women’s range. Stand by for a €500 version with a sparkly buckle

Luxury sandals from the new Manolo Blahnik for Birkenstock collection.

No two shoe designers have less overlap than Birkenstock and Manolo Blahnik, the brand that was immortalised by Sex and the City. Should they collaborate on a new shoe that struggles hard to merge their disparate styles? Probably not. But have they? Yes.

Birkenstock has hired Blahnik to jazz up its women’s range. The results of this crazed experiment include fuchsia and royal blue velvet interpretations of the classic Arizona model, and a new version of the black leather Boston shoe. The likelihood is that you won’t buy a pair of these shoes. 

If you want to wear Manolo Blahniks you won’t want to clod around in a pair of Birkenstocks; and if you like Birkenstocks, you aren’t going to want to spend €500 on an impractical-looking new pair with a sparkly buckle. But that doesn’t mean the whole thing isn’t interesting.

On the surface, the new range looks like Blahnik’s concession to lockdown. Just as working from home has caused a lot of formalwear companies to pivot to sweaters and chinos, Covid must have also made a dent in the luxury footwear industry. 

Well worn: part of the new Birkenstock and Manolo Blahnik collection, as per the line's reveal video

You buy a pair of Manolos so that you can be seen in them, so it’s difficult to justify splashing out when the only souls who have seen you for two years are your cat and the occasional courier driver. 

But it’s a little more complicated than that. This is because, despite its utilitarian origins, Birkenstock is now also a luxury brand. Last year, the company was acquired by an investment fund part-owned by the luxury French conglomerate LVMH, which is responsible for Louis Vuitton, Dom Pérignon, Bulgari and countless others.

So perhaps this is LVMH’s attempt to pull Birkenstock in line with the rest of its luxury lineup. Perhaps next we’ll see glass Birkenstocks, or Birkenstocks with eight-inch heels. It would make sense: after all, they wouldn’t be any harder to break in.

- The Guardian