Miu Miu’s Bubble Sneakers Bring New Meaning to the ‘Wrong Shoe’ Trend
2 min readSkinny shoes may be having a moment, but Miuccia Prada is still thinking big. And even bulbous.
For Miu Miu fall/winter 2026, the designer sent a series of dotted trainers down the runway, some scattered with crystals and sequins, others rendered in technical fabric and suede primed for glamping. (Glamorous camping, that is.) The silhouette riffs on a shape Miu Miu first established in 1999, defined by an orthopedic sole and rubberized dots that give the shoe its buoyant, almost cartoonish profile.
Two decades later, its odd proportions feel right on trend.
Miu Miu fall/winter 2026.
Miu Miu fall/winter 2026.
The reissued bubble shoes—a centerpiece of Miu Miu’s recent fall campaign starring Hailey Bieber—were styled with butter-yellow shorts, shaggy Penny Lane coats, and shift dresses in burgundy and cream. It was Miu Miu’s version of gorpcore: outdoorsy, but still a little bit prim and proper.
For those less inclined toward sneakers, the bulbous sole found its way onto other silhouettes during the show, from knee-high stretch boots and clogs to office siren-esque loafers.
The revival sits firmly within fashion’s ongoing nostalgia obsession. Brands are mining their own archives to great effect, whether it’s Pierpaolo Piccioli’s new twists on Le City at Balenciaga or the Chloé Paddington redux. In Miu Miu’s case, the new versions can be traced back to the low-profile sneakers and kitschy kitten heels shown in its late 1990s and early 2000s collections.
Still, the offbeatness of it all feels distinctly current. Miu Miu’s bouncy shoes fit neatly into the broader theory of the “wrong shoe”: footwear that either jars charmingly with the rest of an outfit or carries some deliberately strange detail. (In this case, those almost trypophobia-inducing grommets.)
Miu Miu fall/winter 1999.
This isn’t Miu Miu’s first brush with sneaker oddity: its New Balance collaborations, after all, set a blueprint for the very concept of luxury sneakers. But even by Miu Miu standards, this one is delightfully weird.