The history and comeback of the creeper From subculture symbol to fashion

The iconic platform shoes have passed into the common imagination as a symbol of the punk subculture, but they are also a source of inspiration for brands such as Prada and Vivienne Westwood and have been animating the haute couture catwalks for decades in their most extravagant declinations. Their latest appearance? Gucci's FW24, the first menswear collection by artistic director Sabato de Sarno, who brought the shoe's signature silhouette back to the catwalk. While we previously knew Gucci for its loafers, the new collection reinterprets it through the look of the classic Creeper, adding the thick, knurled sole to a sleek shoe. It's not the first time these shoes have made their debut for a luxury brand, with the latest example coming from Marni's Pre-Fall 2021, but their origins belong to the British streets. Let's discover the history of the creepers together.

The post-war period and the Brothel Creeper

After a relative oblivion in the 1990s, the creeper has been back in fashion since 2000, exhumed and reworked by many designers and celebrities: Alexander Wang, Chanel, Rihanna for Fenty PUMA, Prada, who made a mash-up version of them with espadrilles, Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons Homme who took them down the catwalk during PFW FW19, adidas Originals and Kazuki Kuraishi, through to Nicholas Daley & George Cox's Monk Strap Creeper. The return of the knurled sole to the catwalk at this winter's Milan Men's Fashion Week confirms that the creeper is an iconic phenomenon that, despite the constant change of fashions, continues to appeal to the coolest of people.