While low-rise jeans and logomania reside in the more divisive realm of our tastes returning to 90s fashion, jelly shoes are the beloved and enduring trend of the era. Now, the Brazilian heritage brand and jelly shoemaker-du-jour is highlighting its most popular creations in its ‘Icons’ campaign.
Three classic Melissa styles – the Possession, the Papete, and the Campana Ballerina – are being reintroduced to showcase the brand’s timeless designs. The Posession shoe is of course the original and obsessed over Jelly sandal that sparked the phenomenon all those decades ago, while the Papete is in collaboration with Rider, and the Campana a design collaboration with the Campana Brothers. Whatever your vibe or comfort asks, there’s an Icons style that fits – the Possession speaks to the 90s babies, and the Campana to the more disruptive and rebellious aesthetics of the sustainability movement with its intricately weaved materials.
In recent times, Melissa has linked up with Comme des Garçons, Y/Project, and Rombaut – the Rombaut collab gave the world an innovative, environmentally-focused jelly shoe that was a result of a closed-loop supply chain, made from melted down old shoes that customers left at Melissa’s designated drop-off points. First kickstarted in Brazil in 1979, Melissa’s original riviera-inspired jelly shoes have evolved over the years while cementing an immovable spot in pop culture, collaborating with and weaving into the work of Vivienne Westwood, Marine Serre, and Jean Paul Gaultier.
More and more, brands are trying to find their footing in the world of sustainability, while a new cohort of designers experiment with everything from pineapple leather to shortening their supply chain – Melissa remains the enduring, eco-OG. The Brazilian brand continually moulds a vision for environmentally-friendly plastic designs with its fun, stylish footwear, staying committed to lowering its environmental impact and designing using vegan and recyclable primary materials. Iconic!
The Melissa Icons range is available for purchase at shopmelissa.com and via Melissa’s official channels now