If you know anything about fashion, you’d understand that the potential for creativity is infinite. Now, more than ever, there’s an ever-growing sense of freedom when it comes to outdated boundaries that govern clothes, and it has everything to do with the speed in which trends spread. When the masses are that eager to discover what will change the game ahead, the craze might come from where you least expect.

Enter Crocs. A controversial shoe, to say the least: they are often regarded as ugly, or worse, unstylish, but most often, in appearance only. Functionally, they’re a lauded design: slip-resistant, washable, lightweight, and easy to slide on the foot. This makes them especially ideal for people who work in healthcare, are limited in mobility or flexibility, or simply need a little more ease in their life.

The brand and their namesake shoes came to be in the year 2002, and throughout their history have gone in and out of favor with consumers; even landing on TIME Magazine’s list of the “Top 50 Worst Inventions in 2010.” Despite this, the slingbacks started rising to a higher level of popularity than ever in the last five years, much in part due to sporadic collaborations and partnerships with designers and celebrities that reflect the zeitgeist and connect with younger markets.

This revival of Crocs, then, comes at a perfect time to coincide with the return of slingback heels on fashion week runways. Slingback heels have long been considered the epitome of femininity in the form of a sandal, but are also specifically connected to the 1940s and 1950s, giving them a classy but somewhat outdated look.

Enter Crocs again. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.

The rubber style, according to Simone Rocha’s most recent runway, is the picturesque ideal way to incorporate slingbacks into your looks without it feeling overly old. Platformed, and dripping in embellishments like pearls and studs, there is something so refreshing about the way they finish a high-end look. It’s a new way to reinterpret the classic slingback, and admittedly, in great company with other iterations. There’s the Ganni buckle flats and the Miu Miu kitten heels, both equally tapping into the ultra-femme mood Barbie left us in, all while staying aligned with an appreciation for a slingback. 

Crocs (and the many dupes that borrow their likeness), however, remain at the top of our minds. And perhaps, their fifteen seconds of high fashion fame with Simone Rocha acts as a harbinger of ugliness becoming ideal again. After all, the original Crocs campaign centered around a simple phrase: “Ugly can be beautiful,” something not so far from the sentiments of Miuccia Prada, who famously said “Ugly is attractive, ugly is exciting. Maybe because it is newer. The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty.”

How relieving, then, to know that there is still room in fashion for anything- anything- as long as it dares to go where others may not follow. Even when those places might be an outlet store with walls lined in Crocs, of all things.