Fanatic about Flats or Flats Fascist?

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Hmm.. Flats…For me they are something akin to tweed mid-calf skirts,  school PTA meetings and suburbia. They’re all comfort and no style. No glamour. They are what librarians wear in mid-Wales.

I think my aversion to flats could be due to my inability to get heels in my size (UK 11, US 13) until my early 20’s. It felt as though I was the only girl in the world who was forced to be frumpy. You know how it is – as a teenage girl, heels are the epitome of glamour, sophistication and most importantly – adulthood. I remember feeling completely excluded from what I saw as one of the main transformations from girl to woman.

Well, after several years of seeking out heels of all sizes and shapes from all over the world, my collection is now extensive. So extensive in fact that is has excluded any flat shoes at all. I may have some low heels  (couldn’t tell you when I last wore them) and several pairs of mid-heel wedge boots (which I live in) but flats? Proper, flipper-style flats that make my feet look like their size 18? Nope, not a pair.

My thoughts on why women (and particularly tall women) should wear heels are well known (see here), but even I have to acknowledge that many style icons, particularly the young Hollywood crowd are flats-fanatics.  One of the UK’s most popular young celebrities, Alexa Chung, is rarely seen in heels - supermodel Agyness Deyn and actresses Emma Watson and Sienna Miller are also huge fans of  this practical chic trend.  But is it really practical if you are anything other than a size 6? I rarely look a woman and believe she looks truly amazing in flats. The way she walks, the angle of her posture, her perceived confidence  - they’re all improved vastly by the addition of a heel.

Maybe I have to concede that flats are here to stay but even if Vogue broadcast that heels were ancient history in the fashion stakes, I don’t think I’d ever consider slipping on a ballet pump in place of an
eel skin, cone-heeled boot.  Maybe I’m just truly flat-phobic?!


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