A recent post on the reasons that high heels are fabulous yielded some interesting comments. Most readers agreed that wearing high heels makes them feel and look fabulous. A few of our readers went on to bring up the topic of occasionally feeling “high heel hostility” in the form of comments from total strangers like:
“I used to wear ridiculous heels like that until my knees gave out”
“your feet must be killing you”
“how do you walk in those?”
“you can’t possibly wear those all day?”
“beautiful shoes…hope you don’t break your neck”.
I’m intrigued by the notion of this hostility. In the fashion and style world, fashion experts, catwalk shows and magazines constantly encourage us to wear high heels because they make outfits look better. High heels lengthen the leg line and make calf muscles look shapely. They offer height and prevent us from looking and feeling dumpy. In fact many trends go hand in hand with super high heels at the moment, to the extent that without them you won’t achieve the same look.
In light of the above, I was surprised to hear about the “high heel hostility”. If anything I’ve felt quite the opposite. As a fashion stylist who enjoys wearing trends, I often have to bypass a look because I can’t wear the high heeled footwear that finishes it off. That’s why I mentioned in the post that as a stylist I dare to be different by wearing flats and very low heels most of the time. I guess I feel “flats hostility” instead of high heel hostility.
I’d like to live in a world that is accepting of all heel heights. In the name of fashion and style there is a place for flats, low heels, three-inchers and skyscraping platforms. The choice is yours as long as you can comfortably and confidently get on with your day. Have you felt or noticed heel height hostility? Do you feel antagonistic towards high heel wearers? Do you feel hostile to those who wear flats?
