These new Chanel sandals have drawn online buzz. Here’s why

A model walks the runway during the Chanel Cruise 2026/27 show on April 28, 2026 in Biarritz, France. (Stephane Cardinale - Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images)

Chanel’s new soleless sandals are attracting attention online, with fashion publications describing them as bold, playful and freaky.

Models showed off Matthieu Blazy’s whimsical footwear during a runway show on Tuesday in the seaside French town of Biarritz.

Blazy, the famous fashion house’s artistic director, debuted the shoes in his first Chanel cruise collection Tuesday, Women’s Wear Daily reported on Tuesday. The show took place in the seaside city where Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel founded her first couture house.

Blazy’s new sandals feature slim straps and only a small heel covering, a design that Women’s Wear Daily called “the boldest footwear statement at Chanel cruise 2027.”

“These shoes go where FEW shoes have gone before, forgoing about three-fourths of the sole,” wrote the digital lifestyle site The Cut in an Instagram post Tuesday. The post attracted more than 3,000 comments. The publication also called the shoes “half-finished” and “freaky-deaky.”

Nss magazine, an Italian fashion and culture publication, suggested the sandals appeared to be designed to generate social media buzz. The magazine described the shoe, featuring a block-shaped heel covering with a string tied around the ankle, as “cap-heel.”

The publication says if the soleless footwear ends up in retail stores, it likely will include a sole because of its impracticality.

An Instagram post by a user with the handle @brittanyhagantalks featured photos of the sandals and received more than 14,000 likes. “What are we doing!?!??”

“I wish this was a joke, but sadly it’s not,” wrote an Instagram user @fashionablebookworm.

Famous faces at the Chanel Cruise 2026/27 show included acting legends Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, filmmaker Sofia Coppola and American rapper (and Rihanna’s partner) A$AP Rocky.

Blazy officially began his role as Chanel’s artistic director in April 2025 . He was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2026.