Ugly fashion is big business. But nowhere more so than on our feet, it seems, with the news that clogs – the bulbous footwear more commonly linked to farmers and folklore – have become the discerning fashion lover’s shoe of choice.

Following the unlikely success of Birkenstock shoes, Crocs and the “ugly trainer”, the trend occupies both ends of the ugly spectrum. The good news is the majority of these clogs are not as ugly as they sound.

At the prettiest end, and arguably the cause of the resurgence, is the Dior “Diorquake”. This riveted clog with a low heel sits alongside sleek versions at Marni and Joseph, while newer brands like Rachel Comey and No. 6 are growing in popularity. Cheaper still are Swedish Hasbeens, the cult Scandi label whose wooden-soled platforms play fast and loose with the traditional clog shape. Its bestseller this season is its classic bulbous Louise design. For the truly fashionable it’s all about Dansko, the brand worn by nurses and now hipsters including Gillian Jacobs, the star of Netflix hit LoveDansko shoes have earned the nickname “status clogs”. Sometimes, the uglier the clog, the cooler it is.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest All clogged up … the English actor Caroline Munro, centre, wears the singular shoe in 1972. Photograph: McKeown/Getty Images

With all trends, visibility is everything. So we can thank a powerful triumvirate for the shoe’s moment in the sun: US Vogue, which calls clogs the “bookworm’s fashion shoe”; Alexa Chung, whose early 00s Miu Miu pair arguably led her to design her own version for her namesake fashion label; and the influential fashion blogger Leandra Medine, who is well known for turning the provocative into the desirable.

Chung and Medine are among a small but growing group known as “the clogerati”, a word coined by the writer Lauren Mechling. Almost a year ago, Mechling wrote an essay for the New Yorker, The Life-Changing Magic of Clogs. Inspired by the response to her piece, she then launched an Instagram account, @thecloglife, dedicated to sightings of this shoe. Mechling’s love of clogs was no accident. “Clogs are the right shoe for the moment – they are feminist shoes,” says Meschling speaking on the phone from New York (while wearing a pair of Dansko clogs). “As shoes go, they’re really for women – they say, I don’t care what men think of me, and right now [fashion] is all about shifting your audience back towards [the female gaze].” She quotes a male friend who says, “I don’t like clogs but I like the women who wear them.”

The first clog-maker’s guild was formed in Netherlands in the late 16th century, although designs vary depending on the country and region. The one rule is that they must be made of wood and leather, which probably explains the myriad shapes we now have.

People tend to hop on a trend because it signifies something bigger – that Dior’s clog takes its name from “Youthquake”, the 1960’s cultural term coined by Diana Vreeland and defined by the decade’s youth mobilisation, suggests Dior and Mechling are on the same page.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A girl in Germany wears white stockings and red clogs. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Jeremy Atkinson, England’s last remaining hand-carver of bespoke clogs, thinks the shoe’s popularity is less about gender and more about society in general. Based in Herefordshire, Atkinson started making clogs 37 years ago, swept up partly by the 1970s self-sufficiency movement that took its cues from the writer John Seymour, who encouraged people to go back to smaller production. Atkinson can make a pair in under two days, and now ships to Finland, Tasmania and north London.

Clogs generally need to be made by hand so that they fit the foot, he says, which results in a relationship between wearer, shoe and shoemaker. Atkinson thinks the people who buy his clogs tend to be aware that the world has become “divorced from its roots” and that by nature of their material – wood and leather in the case of his shoes – clogs represent “a sympathetic attitude to the land”. He mentions a pair he made for a computer technician who wanted to feel “more grounded” while he worked. Clogs are shoes for uncertain times.

But what about practicality. Atkinson says clogs work well in wet and heat, although avoid mud. Provided they fit – they’re meant to tip when you walk rather than your toes gripping the side – you can wear them all day. Masha Popova, Russian Vogue’s web editor, claims to walk nine miles a day in a pair. Karin Kugelberg, retail manager of Swedish Hasbeens, agrees that while the clog is one of the only shoes which transitions from summer to winter, it’s best to wear them with a pair of socks – which may rule out clogs for some.