Boat shoes are finally getting their day in the sun. Spurred on by the resurgence of prep and Americana more broadly—think Zendaya serving tenniscore in Challengers, TikTok co-opting the old money aesthetic, and Bella Hadid's equestrian era—the boat shoe trend revival has been percolating for a few seasons now, with early co-signs from Miu Miu and JW Anderson. But I wasn't convinced until I started seeing Sperry top-siders bounce down the spring Spring 2025 runways and worm their way into the wardrobes of fashionable women like Nordstrom associate fashion director Linda Cui Zhang, who recently took her tricked-out brown leather Sperrys to New York Fashion Week.
"I customized them with some beads from Don’t Let Disco and it makes them that much more special, and personalized," she tells me. "They offer a more relaxed look than a classic loafer."
