Tabi Boots have been part of Maison Margiela's footwear offerings from the very beginning. Inspired by the traditional 15th-century Japanese tabi sock, its first-ever fashion show in 1989 saw the brand's founder Martin Margiela create heeled, split-toe boots.
However, it's only been in more recent years that the divisive, split-toe footwear has reached widespread popularity, spurred along by celebrity cosigns and cringe-worthy pictures of people putting cigarettes in the toe opening. They've gotten so popular that the Tabi Swiper, a Tinder user going on dates to steal Mary Jane Tabi shoes, is a thing.
And Maison Margiela has responded accordingly to this new-found popularity, increasing its range of tabi shoes exponentially.
A quick browse under the tabi section of its online shop brings up a page including rhinestone western boots, brogues, ballerina flats, and a new addition to the collection: tabi welly boots.
The humble weatherproof boot worn predominantly by farmers and British festival goers has been luxury-fied and split-toe-ified by the Maison.
These knee-length rain boots come in rubber so that you can freely splash around in puddles without getting wet socks (trust us, we tried it).
Meanwhile, the sole of the waterproof shoe includes a ridged, cleated sole so that you can get some traction on wet, slippy surfaces.
This means that the luxurious, Italian-made boot has the functionality to get you through a muddy field, although you're far more likely to find it traversing the pavement outside of a fashion show.
Not the only brand working to make wellies cool, these shoes join the likes of Bottega Veneta's Puddle boots and Balenciaga's Excavator Rain boots. But now that it has got welly boots ticked off the list, the only question I have is what shoe Maison Margiela will give the Tabi treatment to next?
