Actor Pedro Pascal was the first to step onto the red carpet wearing Saint Laurent’s provocative thigh-high boots. It was hardly surprising. Pascal is one of the most in-demand actors of recent years and has shown little hesitation about taking fashion risks, on red carpets and beyond.
He paired the boots with a blue turtleneck, a checked jacket and tight leather trousers, creating a look charged with tension between elegance and boldness, restraint and rawness.
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Stella McCartney’s fall-winter 2025-26 women’s collection
(Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
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Guests attend Saint Laurent’s spring-summer 2026 men’s show
(Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
The sky-high leather boots, rising almost to the groin and crafted from calfskin with a metal buckle at the thigh, quickly became one of the most coveted items in global fashion. They were embraced primarily by men, including Brad Pitt, who wore them on the cover of GQ, and Alexander Skarsgard, who injected them with overt sex appeal at the Cannes Film Festival.
More recently, American actress Teyana Taylor slipped into a pair at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles. Their steep price tag, about $4,500 (14,200 shekels), places them firmly in a very narrow market segment. This is a strategic and marketing decision that excludes much of the public from the trend. At New York-based brand Khaite, a similar style costs about $2,500 (8,000 shekels), while Stella McCartney offers boots priced at 768 pounds.
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Teyana Taylor at the Critics Choice Awards, 2026
(Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images/AFP)
In recent months, thigh-high boots have emerged as one of the most sought-after items on the fashion scene, driven by houses such as Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Burberry, GmbH, Khaite and Alaia. The blend of a dominant silhouette with flirtation drawn from sexual power and overt sensuality signals a clear shift in recent aesthetics. Comfort gives way to presence, authority and stance. The same impulse can be seen in the return of sharply pointed toes in women’s footwear.
Will BDSM-inspired fashion reach retail chains?
The recurring imagery from runways and campaigns is redefining the wardrobe. Thigh-high boots are no longer an accessory but the anchor of the entire look, with everything else built around them. This was evident at Stella McCartney’s show, where models wore glossy faux-leather thigh boots paired with powerful silhouettes such as dresses with broad padded shoulders or camel coats with angular shoulders and a distinctly masculine sex appeal.
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Stella McCartney’s fall-winter 2025-26 women’s show
(Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Despite their longstanding association with women's wear, the boots have become a defining trend among men. The pairing of a tailored suit with towering leather boots creates a strong, overtly sexy and commanding look, as seen in the collections of Saint Laurent, Burberry and German label GmbH. The brand’s long boots, featuring an external zipper running from the thigh to the toe, sold out immediately upon release. Priced at 750 euros, they are relatively accessible for boots made of organic leather.
As with Saint Laurent, the connection to BDSM culture was hard to ignore. The boots’ aesthetic, glossy leather, extreme height and tight fit along the leg, echoes fetish fashion that is typically pushed to the margins and sold in specialist stores, often far from mainstream shopping centers.
By selectively borrowing only the boots from fetish fashion, luxury houses are adopting a visual code of dominance and power while legitimizing the item for everyday wear. Even Zara has offered its own interpretation of the trend, less overtly sexual and far more wearable than the runway versions.
Online discourse around the trend reflects this tension. Many users praise the return of dramatic boots, arguing they bring intensity back to fashion and add strength even to simple outfits. Others admit, with some justification, that this is a challenging piece that demands confidence and precise styling to avoid looking like a costume.
