In her first outing since giving birth to her baby, Ashley Olsen wore an outfit so vexing that it’s nearly impossible to tell what season it is.
Olsen was spotted heading to dinner in layers and layers of clothing—not unusual for the co-founder of The Row. On the top, Olsen was dressed for a blustery winter: she wore a large tan coat and a blue and white silk printed scarf with a black beanie and wayfarer sunglasses.
But on the bottom is where things got funky. Olsen wore a pair of flowy, ankle-length trousers that revealed her perplexing shoe choice: a pair of black flip flops. The thong sandal was a perfectly reasonable (and popular) choice given the unseasonably warm weather in New York, but paired with colder season’s staples, it became a classic case of “Wrong Shoe Theory.”
Coined by stylist Allison Bornstein, the fashion philosophy advocates for people to wear shoes that are incongruous with the rest of their outfit. While the most common iteration is chunky sneakers with more feminine dresses, Olsen is making an argument for trans-seasonal shoe choices. It’s not something we’ll try out in the middle of January, but it might be an answer to the interim between the summer heat and the cooler fall. Perhaps it was chilly in the restaurant? Or maybe Olsen treated herself to a pedicure before her dinner.
The choice may be perplexing, but it’s certainly one that Olsen and, by extension, The Row are committed to. Many models in the label’s pre-fall 2024 and pre-fall 2023 shows wore overcoats and open-toed shoes. Look six was quite similar to Olsen’s bundling; the model wore a scarf, coat, and slides. Something tells us this is far from the last time we’ll see this from the Olsen twins, and their devotees.