My Love Affair With Shoes
Shoes have been a huge part of my life. My earliest memory is wearing my Mum's heels with a few pairs of socks to make them fit, clip-clopping about the house pretending I was grown up. Alara Kocman, a fashion design graduate from Vienna, has recently designed shoes inspired by that same kind of childhood memory, shoes that look too big, with a proper shoe hidden inside so you're held and supported the whole time. Very clever. It speaks to my own younger self completely, and I genuinely feel that's where my shoe affair began, along with the frustration of never having much choice for my long, thin feet, my "ski feet," as my husband Steve affectionately calls them.
Given my ski feet, it's no surprise that when I was shopping for school shoes in my teens, the Clarks foot measuring machine would throw out the option for just two pairs, and they were usually the ugliest ones.
Apt, then, that fifteen years or so later, I landed my dream job: a shoe buyer. I was the blouse buyer at Topshop, and when I returned from holiday in November 2003, having just got engaged, I was told I was moving to shoes. I actually delayed my wedding, my now husband Steve was very understanding. I had to hit the ground running, not in heels, I hasten to add. There was a lot to learn, and plenty of amazing shoes to buy for other women who loved them just as much. By the time I was at ASOS, I'd started wearing socks with my heels every day, a proper style choice. Who'd have thought that the little girl clip-clopping round the house in her Mum's heels and socks would grow up to make it her signature.
And I can't write a blog about shoes without mentioning Carrie Bradshaw. Her taste in shoes was legendary, back in the late 90s and early 00s when shoes were "proper" shoes. By the mid 00s, when I was a Buying Director for OFFICE and Poste Mistress, we were riding the UGG phenomenon and the Birkenstock reinvention, alongside trips to Milan designer showrooms like Prada, Miu Miu and Jil Sander where kitten heels, patent leather and platforms were in.
Here's how I put all that experience to use in my own shoe drawer.
Day to Night
A good pair of heels is the fastest way I know to move an outfit from day to night, a trick I go back to again and again. Swap a flat for a heel and your whole look shifts. You're lifted, your posture changes. It doesn't need to be a high, high heel, it can be a kitten, just enough to elevate your arch.
The All-Rounder
My Prada kitten heels. Part of the Spring Summer 2018 collection, they were Miuccia Prada’s fashion take on female strength, built around comic-book art made by women. They cover every base I've talked about here, day to dinner, comfort, quality, and they never fail to start a conversation.
Lead the Way
Your shoes don't have to be the finishing touch, the last thing you put on once everything else is decided. They can be your outfit's starting point instead, with everything else built around them.
Make an Effort
It's become far too easy to reach for trainers. They've had such a long run now that we've almost stopped questioning them. But if you're wondering where shoes are heading in 2027, I can feel a shift coming, less of that relentless casual, more of an appetite for something with proper structure I'm all over these Loewe ones right now, sporty, but with just enough structure to feel smarter.
Flat Out
Flats are an alternative to a heel, but they can still carry you to walk tall. I'm a fan of Berlin-based brand Aeyde. These lace-up flats are like slippers, the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. They make my outfits comfortably smart, plus they make a noise when I walk that gives my stride real purpose. Talking of slippers, check out these Ralph Lauren ones, they're sold out, and you can see why.
A Little TLC
I always add a rubber sole to a leather-soled shoe, so I can wear them in the rain without ruining them. I keep them clean, and always put them away in shoe bags to protect them from dust. I keep them safe on their travels too.
Borrowed Soles
I can't wear mine all at once, so some of my favourite shoes and boots go out through Becky's Wardrobe, my designer shoe rental service here in London. They're borrowed for events like a wedding or a party, and for every day, a lunch or a meeting.
My love affair with shoes was recently shared via a podcast with Fiorella Erni, a humanitarian negotiator and founder of Cheetah Stories, on the Stand Tall Podcast. A thoughtful conversation discussing the defining moments, core values, and negotiations that shape how we show up and lead, and how we sometimes do it in a good pair of heels.
Listen to my episode here: