Why Not Try a Cork Wedge This Summer?

This past week, I received an alert on The RealReal for Just Cavalli. (Yes, I get notifications for Just Cavalli.) I browsed through the options and behold: an incredibly noughties pair of wedges. The sole boasted a trippy print of seashells and flowers, and the straps were optic white and stamped with a metal “JC” towards the front. The cherry on the top was the four-inch cork wedge, emblazoned with a psychedelic “Just Cavalli” on the side. I imagined a glamorous-yet-casual Jennifer Lopez strutting around in them circa 2002. (She indeed wore cork wedges during the filming of the music video “I’m Gonna Be Alright”). I hadn’t logged on to The RealReal intending to buy these shoes, of all things, but before I pressed buy, I thought, “why not?” Why not a glorious shoe crafted from the phellem layer of tree bark tissue? No more vertiginous stilettos! Bye, stubby kitten heels! I’ll scrap the flat earthy sandal, too! This summer, I want stable and unapologetic height. I want to stand three, four, maybe five inches taller and not tremble. Give me a fat-bottomed heel; I need a tree trunk on my foot. And just like that, those Just Cavalli sandals, in all of their early-aughts glory, were mine.

I don’t necessarily know when these shoes fell out of fashion. I remember them being a favorite of Snooki on The Jersey Shore, who traipsed–and probably tripped—around the boardwalk in them. My colleague Christian Allaire told me that the protractor-shaped shoe reminded him simply of Miami. They have some posh links, too. According to Vogue’s Sarah Spellings, Kate Middleton is a fan of the style, and also valiantly plays sports in them.