I had my inklings, but these strappy little numbers from Paraboot have made it near-on official: no silhouette is safe from becoming a mule. Period.
Spotted at Pitti Uomo 104, Paraboot’s iconic 70-year-old Michael silhouette is the latest in a long line of iconic silhouettes to have been chopped up, switched around, and transformed into a slip-on following in the steps of styles like the Clarks Wallabee, New Balance 2002R, and Balenciaga’s chunky AF 3XL.
For Paraboot though, an esteemed purveyor of high-end French footwear for over 110 years, slipping into the more casual world of mules and slip-on is certainly a little left-field, albeit not unheard of.
Long-time fans of Paraboot will be well aware that this isn’t technically the brand’s first foray into the realm of more casual footwear.
Last year the French outfit dropped a puffy collaborative slip-on with outdoors aficionados The North Face which boasted the former’s vulcanized rubber outsole and matelassé full grain leather construction, alongside the latter’s soft elastic collar.
The result? A modern day masterpiece.
Still, making a shoe a slip-on is one thing, but turning a formal shoe into a certified mule, equipped with a strappy buckle and all, is another completely, and this time Paraboot doing it alone.
Release details of Paraboot’s Michael Mule are currently non-existent, with only an in-hand look at Pitti Uomo all to go off.
Sure, the Michael may well have been one of the last silhouettes you’d have thought of when it came to a shoe ready to be mulified, but in reality nothing has ever epitomized ‘business up top and party out back’ quite as much as the final Paraboot itself.
