Yay or Neigh? McQueen’s Hoof Boots Are Put to the Test

Every Fashion Month, which is currently underway with the presentation of spring 2025 collections, there are certain accessories that emerge as a street style favorite. Last September, it was all about the Martine Rose x Nike sneakers—which were spotted on the feet of many stylish showgoers—and in February, MSCHF’s big, red boots emerged as the surprising fan-favorite. Typically, the breakout shoe of is one that is bold and head-turning (Fashion Month is prime time for peacocking, after all). And this season, a wonderfully-wacky boot has entered the chat for a possible new take-over: Meet the McQueen hoof boot.

Debuting first in designer Sean McGirr’s fall 2024 collection for McQueen, the hoof boot’s clunky silhouette draws inspiration from—you guessed it—horse hooves. Finished in brown calf hair, or with a sweeping silk ponytail, they’re meant to give the wearer an anthropomorphic feel—as though you’re a non-human human. If you think about it, they really are the perfect Fashion Month shoe; Why blend in, when you can be completely otherworldy?

Feeling intrigued by the new avant-garde design, Vogue got to thinking: Will we see the boot at the spring shows this month? And who would dare to wear them? Enter Kenyan model and creator Achieng Agutu, who we enlisted to test out the shoes during September’s fashion madness. Dubbed the “confidence queen,” Agutu’s online persona is all about embracing fashion and totally owning it—meaning, if someone can pull off the shoes with ease, it’s bound to be her.

Cut to earlier this month, when Agutu visited the Vogue headquarters in New York to test-drive not one, but two pairs of the hoof boots. Did she give them a yay, or a neigh? After slipping the shoes on—“Do your horses have feet like this? No, but I do,” she said—Agutu proceeded to gallop through the Vogue offices, turning heads in meeting rooms while giving her best “new boot goofin’” strut. “I would wear these everywhere—the grocery store, the club,“ says Agutu. “My friend’s son’s bar mitzvah. Truly everywhere.“