This New York Fashion Week, the androgyny trend got a much-deserved accessories boost. The gender neutral look already consists of boyfriend shirts and shrunken or exaggerated jackets paired with slouchy pants or shorts, but now the style is completed with spectator-inspired shoes.

Over the weekend, numerous pacesetting style editors and stylists wore the flat two-toned footwear—originally used for cricket in late 1800s—with chic aplomb. On the runways, the shoes were fierce punctuations to masculine/feminine clothes. Karen Walker, for instance, showed off the shoes’ versatility by using them with loose cotton shorts and dresses, while Rag & Bone featured them to convey the brand’s spring/summer ’09 message of feminine power dressing.

The look isn’t restricted to stylists and catwlks, however. Skyrocketing pop sensation Janelle Monae‘s retro-futuristic look is already replete with a pompadour, cummerbund and fitted tuxedoes—but it wouldn’t be complete without spectator shoes. Old never looked so new.

 
—Robert Cordero & Camille Drummond