Designs are becoming ever more extreme: witness Madonna’s recent red-carpet
stroll in a pair of pistol-heel Chanel sandals. (Students of stiletto
semaphore should note that she slipped into these killer heels the night
before she announced her divorce.)
As well as becoming more extreme, shoes have also become more treacherous.
It’s as if designers and customers are engaged in an ever-escalating game of
dare, and the forfeit is a nasty tumble. Even catwalk models, who are paid
huge amounts to make walking in heels look easy, are having trouble staying
upright in the fierce new shoes. Three fell from their lofty sling-backs at
the Prada show in Milan recently, and those who managed to stay upright
wobbled their way along the catwalk like newborn foals.
Despite the hazards, the trend for super-high heels shows no sign of abating.
A gym in New York has even launched a stiletto class. For health and safety
reasons, they can only teach walking and dancing in heels for 15 minutes at
a time (which tells you a lot about this new trend), while the rest of the
class focuses on strengthening the legs and calves to make walking in heels
easier.
Precisely why shoes have become the ultimate fetish object of our times is
open for debate. One economist has attributed the fierce shoe boom to
women’s desire to reassert themselves after male bankers made a mess of the
world. Indeed, the queen of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon, equates heels with
power. “Super-high heels provide instant stature and empowerment, and the
more you wear them the more comfortable you feel in them,” she says. A
fierce pair of heels certainly gets a woman noticed. When Gwyneth Paltrow
made her comeback as a sexy screen siren, she did it atop a pair of towering
Zanottis.
Even men are getting in on the act. Marc Jacobs took his bow at Louis Vuitton
wearing stack-heeled booties. “I’ve always wanted to be taller, which is the
real reason I wore them. I also thought I can show that I, too, will suffer
for fashion,” he said afterwards.
At least he could walk in his heels. There is no more dispiriting sight than a
woman struggling in her shoes. All the sex, power and advantage that heels
promise evaporates with every wibble.
1 To cut down on wobble factor, make sure the shoes fit you
properly before buying them, and strap them firmly to your feet.
2 The chunkier the heel, the more secure you will feel. The more
spindly and strappy, the tougher they will be to teeter in. Do consider
platform soles — they take the arch ache out of wearing tall shoes and have
made super heights (such as Louis Vuitton’s 7in court shoes) achievable.
3 Don’t make it any harder than it already is by wearing slippery socks
or tights with strappy high heels. The toes need to gain some purchase on
the shoe, otherwise your whole edifice becomes like a building with unstable
foundations (it was the addition of a little cotton inner sock that felled
the models on the Prada catwalk).
4 Confidence is the key to looking good in heels. Show no fear. Lean
back, stand tall, stretch your leg out in front and imagine that you are
walking in flats. Swinging your hips helps with momentum.
5 Plan your heel-wearing strategically. Limit the time you spend in
them. For example, walk to work in flats, then change into heels in the
office. Always carry a pair of emergency flats (roll-up ballet pumps are
very handbag-friendly).
