Fashion’s Best Kept Secret Right Now Is Ralph Lauren’s Polo Shoes

The other day I ran into a stylist friend downtown. She was wearing a white pony hair high-top sneaker with a split sole. They were the kind of sneakers that would sway even me, someone who is typically sneakers-averse. When I asked her where they were from, nothing could have prepared me for the answer: Ralph Lauren Polo.

It’s not that I wouldn’t expect Ralph Lauren Polo to make great things, it’s just that I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever considered the brand as a destination for cool footwear. For the perfect worn-in looking cable knit sweater or elegant denim maxi dress, sure. But shoes? Especially ones that looked like a fuzzy cross between a ballerina flat and a boxing shoe? Definitely not.

I immediately went home and checked out the footwear section of the brand’s website. The high-top pony ballerina sneakers that made me swoon were there but nearly sold out in every size. I was upset by the fact that I couldn’t own them anytime soon but even more so by the fact that seemingly everyone knew about them but me.

As I continued to peruse the shoe section, I spotted incredible shoe after incredible shoe. My friend’s shoe wasn’t a one-hit wonder. There was the metallic leather pony ballerina sneaker, a shorter, shinier version of my friend’s. There was the canvas Mary Jane espadrille, a funky take on the classic Spanish shoe with fantastic contrast stitch work. There was the leather ballet flat, a pointy bowed take I’m surprised hasn’t gone viral.