Zendaya stepped out in Paris this week wearing Maison Margiela tabi wedges, combining the Belgian label's split-toe silhouette with a platform wedge in a single pair of shoes. The appearance came during Paris Fashion Week, days after she attended the Louis Vuitton spring 2027 runway show in the French capital.
The tabi — a shoe whose toe is divided in two to mimic the shape of a Japanese tabi sock — is one of fashion's most polarizing designs. Margiela introduced its first tabi boot in 1989, and the split toe has divided wearers for more than three decades. Adding a wedge heel stacks a second contested trend on top of the first: platform wedges have cycled in and out of favor since the 1970s, and critics have long dismissed them as clunky or dated.
Zendaya has worn tabis repeatedly, a pattern that has made her one of the style's most visible advocates. She has also built a habit of revisiting pieces from her own press-tour wardrobes rather than debuting new looks for every appearance — a strategy that keeps her outfits in circulation and generates repeat coverage long after a film's promotional cycle ends.
Her stop at the Louis Vuitton show earlier in the week fit that pattern. She attended in a look she had worn previously on a press tour, rather than a never-before-seen ensemble. Louis Vuitton, where Pharrell Williams has served as men's creative director since 2023, remains one of the most-watched shows on the Paris calendar.
Paris Fashion Week draws the industry's highest-profile attendees and generates the bulk of the season's celebrity style coverage. Zendaya's appearances there carry outsized weight: her stylist, Law Roach, has dressed her in archival and runway pieces that frequently sell out or spike in resale value within days of an appearance.
The tabi wedge she wore is a commercial product, not a one-off. Maison Margiela sells tabi styles in boots, flats, heels and wedges, with prices typically running from roughly $1,000 into the several-thousand-dollar range for leather and specialty versions. The split-toe design requires a construction method distinct from standard footwear, since each shoe is built around two separate toe compartments.
Whether the wedge version joins the tabi boot as a lasting staple is a separate question from whether Zendaya can pull it off. The boot has survived decades of ridicule and revival; the wedge has not managed the same endurance. Wearing them together, in the middle of the industry's biggest week, puts both on the same footing — at least for one afternoon in Paris.
