Ridiculously high heels - Apprentice Final Four

[axolotlfloof]

Just watching this week's episode.
Really pleased to see 4 women in the final, but why the heels?
Even Karen is wearing them.
They are bad for your feet, balance and just ridiculous.
My Mum's feet were destroyed by heels in the 60s, and I prioritise walking over heels.
Aibu?

There is definitely an Apprentice uniform look of sexy business wear. It's almost become a one upmanship contest on the best outfit. The men don't have to compete like that. Looks very sexist and old-fashioned to me - I bet Lord Sugar has a say in that, looks a right old creep to me

Oh and now a bit of ageism! ‘A right old creep’ what are you basing that on? And if you didn’t spend so much time glaring at the women on The Apprentice, you’d notice that the men all wear suits.

@speakout

I find completely flat shoes far more uncomfortable as they stretch my very short calf muscles!

Does it not alarm you that your calf muscles have been shortened like this? That walking normally on flat feet gives you pain?

Don't about me. I have an excellent physio and personal trainer.

After years of being a professional dancer I'm fully aware of what is right for my body.

Now I'm not dancing as much I can tolerate flat shoes for longer periods of time but after a while my calves will ache.

Your last post is a lot more palatable OLP

I too as an attractive and clever young women, could never apparently get it right.

SM has become far too important it’s true, but empowering people to feel more comfortable in appropriate dress is the way forward here.

If I dressed even a little bit smart, wore a bit of make-up, it was suggested that I was relying on my looks.

If I dressed down, then I didn’t care enough to look a bit more presentable.

Women are dammed if they do, or don’t.

*don't worry about me that should have said.

I'm pretty bloody successful and I wear trainers to work. Although now with working from home I could be barefoot and they'd never know.

Since I moved to flats I have doubled my salary and am currently lined up for a promotion.

@Quincythequince

Your last post is a lot more palatable OLP

I too as an attractive and clever young women, could never apparently get it right.

SM has become far too important it’s true, but empowering people to feel more comfortable in appropriate dress is the way forward here.

If I dressed even a little bit smart, wore a bit of make-up, it was suggested that I was relying on my looks.

If I dressed down, then I didn’t care enough to look a bit more presentable.

Women are dammed if they do, or don’t.

Sorry if it came off wrong before I just look at these clone instagram girls who only care about their appearance and followers and have a teenage daughter and think what have we been fighting for was it all a waste ?! Also am totally jealous of anyone that can actually walk in heels !!

It might be me, but in the post pandemic era, heels suddenly look ridiculously dated as part of a work wardrobe.

Those body con dresses also look daft.

even the newsreader in a dress was wearing trainers recently, i dont know if she was meant to be visible

they always wear heels on the apprentice

The female contestants dress like stereotypical secretaries rather than business leaders. They look like cartoons with the hair and the fake lashes. No female leader in the real world dresses like a caricature anymore. The world moved on from this nonsense with the advent of tech business culture.

@jaffapaffa, raise this issue with your Governing Body! It's preposterous! I would go so far as to say it promotes inequality under the nine protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

No need to apologise.

We tread a fine line, as females in every walk of life. Still.
So much unfair, sex-targeted criticism that men would never get.

I can walk in heels, I rarely wear them, but I like them.

My footwear, unless it prevents me from doing the task at hand, is my business and I and every other woman should have agency over that (outside of works place specific requirements).

Regardless, this is a TV show.

More generally speaking and out of curiosity (I’ve seen only two episodes) can anyone tell me, did they wear them during the grafting for lack of a better expression) days? The food making, or guided tour bits?

If not, and I’m guessing not, it would suggest that they reserved them for looking smart, if that’s what smart looks like to them?

Also wondering why someone on here has said Shana is the only one that hey took seriously?

So you openly admit to judging women based on their looks then?

Yes, they all wear Heels, tight dresses and hair extensions, I mean what a feckin cliché. I've never worn any of those to work and I do just fine.

[quote Nothavingfunrightnow]@jaffapaffa, raise this issue with your Governing Body! It's preposterous! I would go so far as to say it promotes inequality under the nine protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010.[/quote]

I would agree with this. It's very troubling.

My concerns are practicality and foot health.
My Mum's feet were seriously deformed (bunions), by wearing high heels for her office job (law) in the 60s.
She was embarrassed by her feet and found it difficult to find shoes to fit in later life.
This is the truth about heels.

Noisyprat
Personally I think the women's attire in this series is like The Handmaids Tale. The dresses all look the same but in different colours. All are tight fitting and heels always high. I've actually found it really uncomfortable to watch. Do women dress like this for work now? I'm in my 50's and was always suited and booted but not like this.

It’s very Handmaids Tale isn’t it? I assume the candidates are now dressed by the production team as the women wear different coloured versions of the same style of dress. One week they had flippy hems, but they’ve mostly been straight shift dresses.

I’m sure in previous series there was more variation in what people wore and as above it’s a poor representation of what professional women actually wear.

@sst1234

The female contestants dress like stereotypical secretaries rather than business leaders. They look like cartoons with the hair and the fake lashes. No female leader in the real world dresses like a caricature anymore. The world moved on from this nonsense with the advent of tech business culture.

It’s a TV show! Had you not noticed?

I think you’ll find Karen dresses not dissimilarly? Are you questioning her smarts, or general business acumen too?

@sst1234

The female contestants dress like stereotypical secretaries rather than business leaders. They look like cartoons with the hair and the fake lashes. No female leader in the real world dresses like a caricature anymore. The world moved on from this nonsense with the advent of tech business culture.

But they could if they wanted to I assume.

And for the record I can walk perfectly well in heels, I don’t totter. The only thing that makes me sad is I don’t have enough reasons to wear them out. They’re not practical at work and I’m too lazy to go out dancing as an older woman. However the next opportunity I get then one of my glorious pairs of 4” heels will be put on and off I’ll stride.

YANBU. I was saying to my DP that I'd wear (nice, smart) flat boots and something not quite as body-con as their dresses if I were in that position.

Heels like that on polished floors give me the cringe that they're going to slip with every step.

Perhaps they should have more older contestants on the show

@ImInStealthMode

YANBU. I was saying to my DP that I'd wear (nice, smart) flat boots and something not quite as body-con as their dresses if I were in that position.

Heels like that on polished floors give me the cringe that they're going to slip with every step.

I was worried for Stephanie, she was struggling to walk properly.

The world moved on from this nonsense with the advent of tech business culture.

My friend is extremely capable, switched on and works in a very predominantly male tech company. She enjoys wearing dresses, heels (always has done, and wears similar out of work as well), she likes having her nails and hair done and enjoys wearing make up; she doesn't fit in at all and knows people would take her more seriously if she wore jeans and a t shirt- but rather than that being held as the standard and once again clothes worn by females being seen as lesser than, surely a people should wear whatever they like without judgement would be better. If people want to wear heels then cool, if they don't want to they should be taken as seriously in flats, absolutely. But we don't have to default to womens clothes are bad, yes there are roots in dressing for men yadda yadda, but some genuinely just prefer wearing them.

axolotlfloof
My concerns are practicality and foot health.
My Mum's feet were seriously deformed (bunions), by wearing high heels for her office job (law) in the 60s.
She was embarrassed by her feet and found it difficult to find shoes to fit in later life.
This is the truth about heels.

Same with my mother- her feet are a mess, and cause her a lot of pain. So deformed now, overlapping toes, bunions, the whole of the front of her foot is really bad, bones have been pushed so hard they now cut through the skin, she wears dressings constantly for protection, and is very embarrassed by her feet.

In fact they look not too disimilar to another culture which expressed female sexuality tthrough footwear

@Quincythequince

I think you’ll find Karen dresses not dissimilarly? Are you questioning her smarts, or general business acumen too?

Does Karen dress like that in real life? Does she dress like that when she goes for a normal day's work in her day job?