Summer 2023 will not be remembered for Burning Man or Beyoncé concerts, but cork wedges. At least, that’s how it feels to us who write about celebrities—including Natalie Portman—and the clothes they are photographed in.
Here is a not exhaustive list of other stars who have been papped in the once maligned heel in recent months: Katie Holmes, Lily-Rose Depp, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Nicola Peltz Beckham.
It’s a strange phenomenon because the cork wedge simultaneously semaphores a perma-tanned jet-set glamour and orthopedics. There is Zeta-Jones in her Amalita Amalfi ensemble, but there is also Depp in her arch-support Scholls. So committed is Hollywood to reviving this shoe that Natalie Portman wore this Miu Miu look but swapped out Miuccia’s thong boot for the sort of wedge more often seen with a floral maxidress.
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Perhaps these wedges were slightly easier to get around in—fitting considering the actor was giving a speech on affordable and sustainable mobility at the International Motor Show in Munich. Given the kinds of people that these conferences often attract (algebra lovers with a passion for automobiles and trains), perhaps a wedge was deemed more appropriate than baring all 10 toes in a subversive scuba boot.
This article first appeared on British Vogue.
