High heels completely eradicated from central London

[TheOGCCL]

I was in central London yesterday at lunchtime observing the office workers getting lunch. And not a single non flat shoe to be seen. Mostly the trainer and dress combo (all sorts of dresses and all sorts of trainers), also as its summer flat sandals. Same at the all-female conference I attended including all the speakers.

I've always been mystified by very high heels as they tend to look more unattractive than attractive as the wearer hobbles down the street like they've been hit by a car but think lower heels can look nice and add a bit of height and style. Clearly most people are not prepared to put up with uncomfortable shoes now.

Isn't choice better?

Errrr yes. No one is preventing anyone else from wearing them. If there’s “heel hatred” then it presumably stems from personal experiences of uncomfortable nights wearing them.

WHOOP

Never again twisted ankles and sore soles. NEVER AGAIN

In my used to be very corporate office, not gym trainers but Stan smiths / converse etc all fine as long as clean. Not something you've walked your dog for a year in.

Except for the person who said they should be banned in the office. But it should be a women’s choice if she wears them in the office or out of it.

I wore heels yesterday and I'm sick of them. What are people wearing now days- can anyone add links. I feel a bit short and fat without heels but ready to let go...

Yep, I work in the W End - never see them in daytime. I also work in a small city in the North some of the time, and they are around for sure, but not as much as they used to be. It's part of the demise of formal business in so many industries, heels make your legs look much better in a mid length skirt and they make you look more feminine in a trouser suit. Without those clothes there's much less point.

There are deffo still around in the evenings in the W End, but nowhere near as much, and mainly with the young or at very glitzy dos.

My DD1 wanted to get heels for her prom and there was only a choice of 2 in one shop and none of at all in the other. We did manage to get a pair but I think they aren't popular.

Many years ago (why do all my stories these days start off like Uncle Albert? 😆) I was going for an interview for my first office job. I'd worked in university labs up until then and had no idea what people in offices wore. My only source of inspiration was US lawyer show Ally McBeal, where all the female characters wore micro minis. I wasn't comfortable with that, so chose a knee length skirt that inevitably rode up my thighs when I sat down. The woman interviewing me spent the WHOLE TIME staring at my legs!! (I checked, I didn't have a ladder or mud on my tights) I didn't get offered that job. I was most relieved to end up with a job in an office where everyone wore whatever they liked!

I can’t imagine that I’ll wear heels again, apart from wedge sandals very occasionally. They’re too uncomfortable and restrictive.

I doubt that fashion journalists will stop telling us that HEELS ARE BACK AND THEY’RE HIGHER THAN EVER, because it’s their job to try and persuade us to replace our entire wardrobes every couple of years so that the fashion industry thrives. I’d really like to think that increasingly women will see this for the load of shit that it is, ignore the diktats and wear what they feel good in.

For years I felt my skirts and dresses looked all wrong with flats, but I've realised now that's just how we're conditioned. Put flats with your outfits and you'll get used to them.

I used to think dresses and trainers looked ridiculous - I remember a time when MN S&B thought no adult woman should ever wear trainers except for exercise. Now look

High heels will never be eradicated. I think the Duchess of Cambridge looks fab in them. For me I like my boots to have a good heel. They make my trousers hang better and the height makes me look slimmer. (And I need all the help I can in that department!) Flats are glorious if you hate heels and heels are glorious if flats do you no favours. Isn't there room for both in life?

They should have done what the US Congress did for the Queen when she addressed the joint houses assembled: put a discreetly placed small platform behind the lectern for her to stand on. I'm sure that "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but you'll have wear stillettos for your speech so we can see you" was not under consideration.

Women falling out of love with heels

According to new research from the NPD Group, the sales of dress shoes, including stilettos, fell by a huge 71% in the second quarter of 2020.

I think it's just a fashion that the pandemic accelerated - which is good for me at the minute as I can't tolerate heels and can find lots to buy.

I image they'll be back as some point.

Under 5 foot. Rarely go into the office but if do I wear heeled boots. Means I don't have turn up my trousers and loose the shape. Also male dominated environment and prefer not to be at chest height when talking with colleagues.

The youngest girls all seem to be wearing trainers a lot now. Even when they're out out in quite dressy dresses. They apparently have to be gleaming white though. I hobbled home barefoot enough in my day to be thinking that they're extremely sensible.

Ridiculous looking old things. The charity shops are jammed with them now. I guess a lot of people did what I did and took the opportunity to get rid of them during lockdown.

As a shortarse who were heels to work in the City from about 1998 to 2009, I’m delighted that younger women are less inclined to indulge this BS. I have both bunions and ganglions on both feet as a consequence of my shit fashion choices. and have to have sex with socks on to avoid putting me or DH off our stroke/dinner.

Sexy it isn’t.

Thank goodness. I know some people like them, but I just associate them with being terribly old fashioned.

I honestly don't care how they make my legs look longer, more slender, etc for random men in the street.

I do care somewhat about added height in the workplace, and thats why my flat looking trainer shoes actually have a substantial heel/platform. But they still look flat. Great design, very comfortable, slight calf support. Ted Baker Park Ave is my current favourite.

At a funeral last week there were two women wearing heels. It’s so long since I’ve seen anyone wearing them they looked strange. There’s a whole generation of young women now who have never worn them, I can’t see them ever becoming mainstream again.

I love them and think it's a shame. Love flats too, but heels are amazing and just look nice. Don't care if dated.

I would also have assumed it was mostly a TV thing but it might also depend on which city people are in? In some US cities, nobody really seems to walk anywhere, and I'm guessing heels might be more feasible if your commute is pretty much a door to door drive and nothing else.

Certainly when I've been to New York, where people rarely drive to work and are walking or taking trains or the subway, I definitely haven't noticed a lot of women in high heels. Although actually, I've now remembered that both times I went to NY it was snowing, so probably not typical!

In Paris I've always noticed that it's very much flats or smart trainers - loafers, brogues, pristine leather trainers etc.

I think the suit/tights/heels way of dressing for work would feel quite dated in most offices these days.

Oh they'll always be in and out of fashion for evening wear, and they'll probably be a consistent glitzy do option, but as standard office wear I think they are absolutely dying off.

I know that hasn't happened in very formal offices yet, but it's going that way. They'll be a few who stick with them, like there's a few who wear vintage or any other particular look, but it will be a small minority.

I think they look gorgeous on other women, but I can't wear them at all! I think it's because I'm too fat, it puts too much pressure on my feet? Also I do have wide feet with high arches, not exactly a slender and elegant cinderella foot to slip into a gorgeous strappy heel. Also I do like being able to walk, run, jump, dance etc in my daily life and I can wear casual clothes for work - jeans and trainers. I bought a lovely pair of leather brogues last year and they're good for when I need to be a bit smarter.

I wore heels to work in Central London. Started switching to trainers and changing into my heels at the office when someone knocked me over with his briefcase on a wet platform at London Bridge and I ended up in hospital with a sprained ankle and scalds as I was carrying a coffee. It could still have happened in trainers of course but I'd have had a better chance.

Bunions tend to be more genetic? I had my first one cut off at 15.