On the second-to-last day of London Fashion Week, Simone Rocha debuted her Spring 2026 collection in the first-ever fashion show held at Mansion House, the 1740s-built Palladian palace where the Lord Mayor of London resides. Under six-foot crystal chandeliers hanging from gilded ceilings, I watched models walk by in sequin trapeze dresses, satin tailcoats, and pannier-hipped organza ball skirts that floated on a breeze. On their feet, I noticed the shoe equivalent of sweatpants: Crocs. Specifically, models wore the Ballerina Platform, a double-decker foam Mary Jane designed by Rocha in her fourth collaboration with the comfort-first shoe brand.
Simone Rocha and Crocs’s new Ballerina Platform doesn’t toe the line between ugly and chic; it unabashedly pirouettes onto the ugly end. Inflated to three-and-a-half inches high and trimmed with pearls, crystals, and bows sculpted into the sole, it’s a pointe shoe from a ballerina’s bad dream—something from the Darren Aronofsky Black Swan universe.
