Above: The new lower heels at Roger VivierPosted by Fashion Editor at Large
Very high heeled shoes have always struck me as illogical and incompatible with daily life. The wearer of a 95mm heel, or 110mm with platform will look amazing standing still in them, and feel on a par height-wise with others, and indeed the shoe itself may be a work of art (and I'm all for that, beauty is what keeps me going). But once in movement, the wearers of very high heels hobble, pigeon-step, hold onto walls, railings or the nearest person for any sort of relief from the agony of wearing them. These multitudes of women look disabled and in pain. And for what?? Fashion. That's what. Dur. And fashion can be cruel.
So TFG then for Paris fashion week where designers decided en masse to bring heel heights down dramatically. After years of seeing beautiful yet ridiculously high, impossible to walk in shoes on the runways it was a refreshing not to have to worry that a model might take a tumble/break an ankle/burst out crying as she traversed a catwalk in super-high heels. (Though this worry was resurrected at Alexander McQueen: those shoes were insane.)
At Roger Vivier the PR's made a huge point of telling journalists about their new lower heels (see the lovely photos I took at their divine showroom, I want to live there), and how they resurrected the mid-height stiletto that all women wore in the 1950's early 1960's. Indeed HM The Queen wore said heel height by Roger Vivier for her coronation Also at Vuitton and Giles it was almost weird to see the girls walking close to their own heights. At Giles the shoes actually hadKitten heels, which was scary until I realised it wasn't the heel I disliked it was the name. Myself and Ben and Lily (the girls from label LP.BG) had a go at renaming them, but only got as far as "Cat Heel" and "Talon Heel" before I had to rush off to the Givenchy show.
This all adds up to good news. I have always advocated a lower heel. At our magazine we christened it the "inbetween heel", which says it. However, last week in Paris French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld called this new workable, walkable heel the "Petit Stiletto" which I think is just right, and why I gave it the capital letters!
This fashion changeover to a lower-heels is catching on as I write. My friends who are still in Paris buying SS10 collections for their shops are getting into the trend. It's about time we had a reality check.
Below: The 1.5 inch heels on Vuittons shoes looked like squat brass pillars (last season they were almost a foot high!)
