the.com/peep toe
A shoe that introduces your toes before the rest of you arrives.
means A shoe, usually a heel or pump, with a small opening at the front that exposes just the tips of the toes.
from A plain English compound that means exactly what it says: 'peep,' meaning to show or appear briefly through a small opening (a verb with roots in late Middle English, possibly imitative of a furtive little glance), joined to 'toe.' The style and the name belong to the 20th century, when open-fronted shoes became fashionable and the toes were said to 'peep' out.
- war baby
- Popularized in the 1940s despite fabric and leather rationing
- office taboo
- Many corporate dress codes still ban the toe peek
- name source
- Named for the small opening that reveals only toes
- comeback kid
- Revived heavily in 1990s and 2000s glamour fashion
peep toe pump — shoe style popularized by designers like jimmy choo and manolo blahnik in the 1990s-2000s
peep toe boot — ankle boot variant with cutout at toe, common in fashion collections from 2008 onwards