It was a couple of months ago that water cooler conversation at Vogue first turned to a pair of Olsen-made flip-flops. Not due to any particularly novel design (though they do feature grosgrain straps and a lugged sole), nor the famous feet they’ve been spotted on (Jennifer Lawrence, Hailey Bieber, Dakota Johnson, Zoë Kravitz, Kendall Jenner), but because they were priced at $690.
Arguably outrageous for an indistinct thong sandal you could pick up from Muji for a fistful of loose change–everything with a luxury label costs too much. And $690 is basically entry-level for The Row. The leather City flip-flops are $890; the suede Hugh sliders are $1,090; while the Hook-and-Loop sandal retails for $1,070.
But, ah: it’s the lifestyle you’re really buying into here. “Like all flip-flops, they are pool attire, good for walking a stretch of scorching sand,” wrote The New York Times at the peak of the discourse. “And yet the Row’s take…is in a class of its own–best suited, let’s imagine, for a stroll down the starboard side of a yacht.” Or, in Mary-Kate Olsen’s case, a grocery run in the Hamptons: sweatpants, sun-bleached tourist tee, dad cap, and brown paper bag clutched between clavicle and Amex. Much like the flip-flops themselves, it’s the ultimate in high-low dressing–which is, perhaps, the point.