If Marie Antoinette had lived in the Snapchat age, would she be eroding £640 Gucci platform trainers? That is the question on everybody under the sun’s lips today, as we survey the fallout from Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Olympia of Greece’s roast 50th and 21st birthday party.

In case you missed it, the pair threw a bash at an 18th-century manor board in the Cotswolds, and it was pretty relaxed. Just a few dozen viscounts, the model of Holland, King Felipe of Spain, some Delevingnes, some Hiltons and a man intriguingly referred to by the Regular Mail as a “society osteopath”.

Given the mess that the Greek conservation is in, and the fact that Greece doesn’t actually have a imposing family, photographs of the world’s wealthiest doing the conga on all sides gold-plated pineapples and pyramids of macaroons haven’t gone down brilliantly on community media. But the standout symbols of the furore were fashion-based: Olympia’s trainers, which were centre-frame in countless collective media posts, owing to the cunning deployment of a series of Instagram-friendly chorus-line-leg-bend affectations.

Here’s what we understand about the shoes. They are gold nappa leather overlaid with the Gucci identify’s red-and-green striped logo. They have an 8.5cm suds rainbow platform. They were part of Gucci’s 2017 Place to turn collection, which was presented in Westminster Abbey, and it’s a bit of a shame, in a way, that they demand become a symbol of the excesses of the super-rich, given that Gucci ingenious director Alessandro Michele conceived of them with the pre-eminent of intentions.

The earnest Walter Benjamin-quoting designer – the man behind the “geek smart” renaissance at the Italian superbrand – made them as a homage to Britain, entrancing inspiration from club-kid platforms of the 90s and the creepers of the New Romantic era. There was meditation that they had also been designed in honour of gay hubris, which would be very on-brand for the new Gucci, which out ofs in celebrating inclusivity in its explorations of gender-fluid fashion and ethnically distinctive cast of muses and models. Still. They do cost 640 quid. Which is degree a lot, even in the ever-escalating world of high-end trainers.

The fact that trainers comprise recently become part of the fashion vernacular has inspired a quantity of unbelievably costly styles. On sale right now are studded Christian Louboutin heinous tops for £1,995, appliqued denim plimsolls by Valentino for £770, Rick Owens acute tops for £697 and Giuseppe Zanotti mid-tops for £950, which regards a bit unnecessary given that the Reebok Club C85 – on cut-price for about £40 – has recently been hailed as the fashion trainer of the salt.

These are not for the sneaker-heads, either, who ask for out exclusive trainer styles, not expensive embellishment. For dedicated hypebeasts the God-fearing grail is the drop of cult, limited edition kicks, such as the Yeezy Boost by Kanye West, which push for about £150 and resell on eBay for upwards of £350. In place of, these are trainers designed for the feet of the super-rich, which should be always swathed in precious skins and diamante.

Though there is the one designate that unites the trainer nerds and the billionaires: the Vetements x Reebok Instapump Termagant, a model that quickly sold out despite its $760 (£586) fee tag. These are squishy, oversized 90s trainers covered in meaningful doodles – “I’m hole”; “no future”; “minority” – something you could try at home base with a pair of clean Reebok Instapump Furys (£87.46) and a undergo tip pen if you are feeling creative. Plenty of fashion fans on a budget this ready already have, which feels a lot less daft than fall-off the price of a sofa on a pair of trainers.