Editor’s note: Mari Rodríguez Ichaso has been a contributor to Vanidades magazine for several decades. She is a specialist in fashion, travel, gastronomy, art, architecture and entertainment, a film producer and a style columnist for CNN en Español. The opinions expressed in this column are solely his own. Read more opinion pieces at cnne.com/opinion. (CNN Spanish) — It’s a fact! When it comes to shoes, there is no longer “fashion”, and full freedom is the only rule! And when we talk about “ugly shoes” it is because that is what fashion experts call them (with some affection) (such as the super-famous stylist Rachel Zoe, on her blog The Zoe Teport), who have been showing us that ugly shoes have already arrived to our lives forever. And when the famous designer Manolo Blahnik (creator of the Manolos of Sarah Jessica Parker, in “Sex and the City”) joins the Birkenstock brand -famous for having created the ugliest and strangest sandals in the world, several decades ago- to creating for them a new collection of evening sandals (although with polka dots and buckles with rhinestones), was the great proof that in footwear the rule is “to do what we like the most and make us want to wear it the most”. I have gone through the pandemic wearing old boots, in winter, by Anne Klein and flip flops by Teva, in summer, and seeing around me, my friends wearing sneakers, wellies for snow and old-fashioned ballerinas. But (as I told you once) heels disappeared from my life, and from many, in all this time. And even then there was talk of the trend of wearing “ugly shoes”, which the famous model sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid happily endorsed in their Instagram posts. (By the way, Gigi has a contract with Reebok to advertise her sneakers with large platforms) And for me those are really ugly shoes that we find in stores or on internet sites! Both sneakers or sports shoes, rubber shoes or shoes with huge platforms – just like military or “combat” type boots – are big, crude, striking shoes, not at all subtle, and they also weigh a lot! And to make sure they don’t lose customers in this market, brands like Crocs, Prada, Vivram, Balenciaga, Ugg, Versace and Bottega Veneta have jumped on the bandwagon and make them like this. And some are really ugly. Courtesy Gucci And if you want something less “ugly”, in my opinion, then Chanel, Khaite, Miu Miu and other brands propose “sensible heels” (as they have been called) with the delicate and lower kitten heel, which was a favorite of the towering Audrey Hepburn. In short: you may have some “ugly” shoes from years ago in your closet. Or maybe you can wear the pumps that your mother wore in the 70s, or those kitten heels that once tempted you and then you barely wore them? And if so, then you will already be very much in tune with the trend/non-trend of the capricious moment.