I'm a French Fashion Editor—These Are My Favorite Sandals of the Summer

Eugénie Trochu is a Who What Wear editor in residence known for her transformative work at Vogue France and her Substack newsletter, where she documents and shares new trends, her no-nonsense approach to fashion and style, plus other musings. She's also working on her upcoming first book that explores fashion as a space of memory, projection, and reinvention.

Every summer, I convince myself I'll only need one pair of sandals to get through it, and then, as always, I end up falling in love with a very specific mix of completely unnecessary yet absolutely essential details: tomato-red leather; a strap that sparkles a little too much in the sun; a thick, flat sole that feels vaguely touristy; slightly regressive jelly material, or that little folk touch that makes you look like you've just come back from Ibiza when, really, you've just left the supermarket carrying tomatoes and toothpaste.

I like sandals that tell a slightly contradictory story. A minimalist style worn with a very romantic dress. Beach shoes worn in the city. A pair that's almost ugly but incredibly sexy on sun-tanned skin. I like sandals that make it seem like you've lived through something, even if the only notable event of the day was drinking an iced coffee too quickly on a terrace.

This summer, my favorites fall into a few very specific categories.

First, there are the '90s minimalists: thin straps; slightly faded shades of chocolate brown, black, camel, and sometimes bright red; and that Carolyn Bessette energy of someone who has spent 15 days in the South of France. They require jeans that are slightly too long, a wrinkled men's shirt, black sunglasses, and a general tendency to answer with "Whatever you want" whenever someone asks where to go for dinner.

Then there are jelly sandals, a sensitive subject. They divide people deeply. Some see them as children's shoes from the early 2000s. I see the Mediterranean, vacation pharmacies, night markets, and that slightly kitsch aesthetic that always comes back the moment people start overthinking fashion. Transparent jelly sandals with a red pedicure instantly become incredibly chic.

I'm also going through a fairly advanced crochet-and-folk phase. It's probably linked to my chronic desire to become the kind of person who lives barefoot in a white house with curtains moving in the wind.

And then there are sandals with just the right amount of sparkle. They're not "evening" sandals. They're flat sandals with a slightly absurd jewelry detail—a gold buckle, a few rhinestones, a metallic strap—that catches the light around 7 p.m., when skin finally starts to tan after a hot day (with sunscreen, of course). I like shoes that feel slightly like a Sicilian grandmother going out to buy figs. It's a deeply underrated energy.

Red also keeps returning in my summer obsessions. It's a vivid, almost aggressive red. It's the perfect color with tanned skin, a black swimsuit, a white dress, or an old pair of Levi's.

Deep down, my favorite sandals are always the ones that create the illusion of going somewhere—even when you're staying put. They evoke a more relaxed, sunnier, freer version of yourself while you're simply digging through a tote bag full of squashed fruit purée pouches, receipts, and leaking sunscreen looking for your keys.

Shop My Favorite Sandals for Summer 2026