Grammys 2020: Music’s Feet’s Biggest Night

Very few things are verboten in men’s fashion, now that skirts are a wardrobe basic and big shorts are cool.

The last taboo may be feet. To see a man’s foot is to see into his soul; to wear a flip-flop away from the beach, depraved. And to show your own foot is to be at once vulnerable and hubristic, drawing eyes and minds directly to the wiggling worms that propel you forward on this piece of dust we call earth. “Hey fellas,” say bare toes, “we’re down here!”

Of course, confronting taboo is the most efficient way to bring something into fashion, and on Sunday night, two of our finest celebrity specimens stole the spotlight from the star of the evening—music, I guess?—and pointed it squarely onto their feet.

First up were Iggy Pop’s glamorous punk trotters, slipped into a pair of crystal-embellished leather slides. (The height difference between the two corrects a 1.5” difference between the lengths of his legs as the result of arthritis and a football injury.) He wore a dove gray three-piece suit on top—without the shirt, of course, giving us one of history’s best “formal chest” looks, and creating a vibrant, salacious synergy of illicit skin revelation.

But even more podiatrically stimulating was Young Thug, who played three-dimensional foot chess with his toes. Thugga, who walked the red carpet but missed his appearance in Lil Nas X’s performance to play with a giant tarantula, arrived in a black suit with a red cape and matching turtleneck (perhaps no one except Diane Keaton loves turtlenecks with Thugga’s gusto). On his feet were...more feet, courtesy of a pair of Loewe needlepoint tromp l’oeil loafers stitched with the image of ring-crusted toes.

These loafers—which Loewe first produced last summer, and which are available for $740 on the brand’s website—are a meta-commentary on the power and titillation of the revealed male foot. You are a prince, and the whole world is your castle and your living room. You’re the only person in the world who, when a host says, “Make yourself at home! Take your shoes off!”, actually makes himself at home and takes his shoes off.

Just remember: if you’re showing off your real feet, and not Loewe-imagined ones, make like Iggy and get a pedicure.

Originally Appeared on GQ