Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen designed this season's It shoe. People want them pulled from shelves.

It's been called the shoe of the season.

A US $890 jelly sandal, designed by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen for their luxury label The Row, has quickly become the must-have accessory of the fashion set after it was first spotted at the label's Summer 2024 show in Paris.

In red and blue colourways, the distinctive webbed ballet flats were styled on the runway with the brand's minimalist designs, making their presence all the more, er, clear.

The fashion press was immediately abuzz with talk of The Shoes.

Style tastemaker and author Leandra Medina Cohen called out the accessory as her one to watch.

"The jelly glove-style flats that appeared on The Row's [runway] will be the greatest explosion we will face this summer," she wrote in her Substack newsletter The Cereal Aisle.

In her 'What's next for ballet flats?' series on TikTok, Australian fashion commentator Catarina Riley predicted they would be the next viral shoe to take over where Alaia's popular netted flats left off.

"The brand have made the jelly sandal feel new," Riley told viewers.

Watch: New sneaker trends to love. Post continues after video.

When the 'Mara' shoes finally hit stores earlier this year, they had already amassed a cult following. Predictably, they sold out straight away, and have continued to walk themselves to the checkout when restocked on The Row's website (but you can get a webbed jelly tote for US $4.5K, if you're in the market.)

Jennifer Lawrence, a known fan of The Row, was photographed wearing the flats in red on a stroll in New York in late June, reigniting the buzz.

While they remain in hot demand, with copycat designs now popping up at high street retailers, The Row have since faced backlash for the shoes being prone to breakage due to their delicate woven vinyl finish.

Madison Rae is a popular TikToker who posts candidly about her designer purchases. In a video documenting her own incident of the flats breaking, she told followers not to purchase them.

"Don't make the same mistake I did; don't buy these," she shared. 

"I do think they just need to stop selling them," she continued. "Because now it's happened to a lot of people and it's a shame because they're so expensive."

"Buy the Amazon dupes," she suggested.

Image: TikTok/MadisonRae

We're in the era of the ugly shoe. First Birkenstocks made a comeback, then Crocs became an unlikely must-have. It was only so long until someone revisited the 90s jelly sandal. But there's no doubt The Row's shoes are a new level of deliberately odd.

Reviewing the brand's Summer 2024 show for Vogue, noted fashion critic Sarah Mower praised the Olsen sisters for creating "a world built by women for women."

But for what women? The Row has managed to carve out its own covetable niche of elevated luxury, but its price tags alienate the majority of people.

Do women really want to wear blue webbed jelly flats, or is this a case of the emperor's new... shoes? 

In a TikTok video explaining the phenomenon, luxury fashion commentator Jarrod Jenkins said the sellout style is "the epitome of privilege", citing its price point in comparison to more affordable rubber footwear brand Melissa. 

"The Row dropped a $900 jelly sandal that quickly sold out thanks in large part to the fashion media piling on about how great the shoe is," he said. 

@a.jarrodjenkins @The Row’s sold out $900 Mara jelly sandals embodies everything that’s wrong with fashion right now. Plastic luxury footwear was wack for @AMINA MUADDI and it is equally wack for Mary-Kate and Ashley cc @Fashionroadman #fashiontiktok #therow #jellysandals #olsentwins #summerfashion #aminamuaddi #creatorsearchinsights ♬ original sound - Jarrod Jenkins

"You're not even paying for The Row's quiet luxury aesthetic, as these shoes come in bright colours," he continued. 

"What you are paying for is straight-up privilege."

What do you think of The Row's cult jelly flats? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Feature image: Supplied by The Row/@MadisonRae.