Clogs Are Back: Street Style’s Chunky-Chic Shoe Trend

Tips on how to style these bad boys.

8/23/20253 min read

Clogs—once relegated to granny chic or garden-running shoes—are now strutting like they own the sidewalk. This is not your kindergarten-era wooden slip-ons. This is clogs, reimagined by street style knights, bringing gravity, grit, and just the right amount of “I didn’t try too hard” to every look.

Let’s call them what they are: the “ugly shoe” trend that snuck into vogue like a diva in Birkin shoes. Birkenstock Boston clogs used to be a hipster uniform—chunky cork footbeds and orthopedic whispers—but now they’re bona fide fashion weapons. Ditto Dr. Scholl’s orthopedic clog sandals, once considered frumpy, now catapulted to “it-girl shoe” status thanks to high-fashion collabs and TV characters who knew how to wear nostalgia with flair.

Even Emma Watson got in on the action—seen in Paris sporting shearling-lined Birkenstock Boston clogs with baggy jeans and a Prada workwear jacket. It was summer, but she made it cozily-seasonless cool.

What’s the magic? It’s the clogs’ comforting weight, their chunky presence that grounds every outfit, and the “I-got-lost-in-a-museum-and-just-ended-up-here” vibe they always deliver.

How to Wear Them Without Looking Like Grandma’s in Town

The Boho Minimalist: Floaty midi dress + wooden-platform clogs + micro-crossbody. Isabel Marant would nod approvingly. Bonus points if the dress is a toasted oat color and you wear vintage gold hoops.
The Denim Scholar: Wide-leg jeans + Boston clogs + oversized button-down or structured blazer. Comfortable, intentional, and ready for every coffee date this side of a Y2K revival.
The Cozy Intellectual: Clogs with socks, chunky knit, and neutral palette. The kind of look that says you’re deep in a Dostoevsky novel but still need to catch brunch.
The Unexpected Edge: Pair clogs with a mini LBD and flashy socks or a blazer dress—it’s weirdly elegant, like wearing a velvet crown to a backyard party.

Clogs are the fashion world’s quiet rebellion—architectural in presence, humble in origin, and effortlessly chic. They whisper, “I value comfort, context, and chaos in equal measure.” So this season, do yourself—and your feet—a favor: march in clogs.