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If you read this past week’s Round-Up, then you undoubtedly saw this post under the heading Travel & Hospitality News: "Move Over Stilettos: Sneakers Make a Statement Absolutely love the sneaker trend! Read this great post from Skift, 'Sneakers are taking over the convention center floor, making a statement while boosting comfort, confidence, and brand awareness.' Are they part of the new dress code for business events? Reply to this email if you are wearing sneakers (trainers) for work functions! I'd love to hear what brands you wear, when, etc."
What you didn’t see until now, of course, was one very passionate response from a reader with strong opinions on footwear: “BE COMFORTABLE––why would any woman ever want to wear HIGH HIGH Heels? Sneakers are for exercising! Instead, why not wear COMFORTABLE flats? I just got myself some shoes which look like ‘Mary Janes’."
While I completely agree about the importance of being comfortable, I also understand why women want to wear high heels. "Study finds women in high heels are perceived as more attractive, feminine, and higher status," reads a headline on PsyPost. "Results showed that people rated the silhouette wearing heels as more attractive, more feminine, and less masculine than the silhouette wearing flats. This is consistent with previous research that suggests women wear heels to bolster their attractiveness”.
As a semi-flat-footed child with toes like pretzel nuggets, I was forced to wear orthopedic shoes into my tween years, the idea being that my feet issues would be corrected and I, like my friends would graduate to fabulous Pappagallo flats and little heels. So, I was willing to endure feeling like a clutz until such time as I was finally old enough to make my own shoe choices and cram my troubled tootsies into a veritable cornucopia of fashionable footwear. CORNucopia …ha, no pun intended, and yet prophetic.
Be careful what you wish for! To this day, my feet are paying the price for my misguided perceptions of what accounts for attractiveness, and apparently, more and more women are understanding that being comfortable in your own shoes is far more attractive than struggling with the foot pain of high heels.
More and more women are understanding that being comfortable in your own shoes is far more attractive than struggling with the foot pain of high heels.
In this recent Bloomberg article titled "More Women Are Injuring Their Feet With the Return to Office High Heels," writer Jo Constanz tells us, “After two years of working from home, many women are no longer willing to endure painful footwear. As the commitment to heels falls by the wayside, more casual workwear staples have emerged, including white sneakers.” Although our hertelier reader from above might disagree – “Sneakers are for exercising! Instead, why not wear COMFORTABLE flats?” Or take it from Marilyn Monroe…
