No more heels around. The symbol (it used to be in the past days at least) of womanly high style is missing. It is no longer mandatory on runways, not even in an haute couture fashion show. Is it too uncomfortable perhaps? Not at all! It is simply a conceptual choice: its absence turns out to be the symbol of women who free themselves from slavery.
Dior’s choice
Such is the message sent by Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior fashion show. The designer selected, for runway models to wear, no-heel flat shoes, such as sandals and mules, to provide them with “a couture charm that also frees movement and makes a possible connection with nature”, such was the explanation reported by AFP. In Paris, Dior presented very flat shoes: for the records, the last model, parading along the runway, was wearing a black bottom sandal that was dressing her legs like some sensual fishnet tights.
CHANEL’s choice
CHANEL made a similar choice too, not so radical though. Creative director Virginie Viard turned the space of famous Grand Palais into a library. Fashion models were supposed to play the role of sexy librarians, while wearing flat or low-heeled shoes. After all, walking on the wooden floor of an ancient library while wearing stiletto heels is not recommended.
The quandary
No matter what reasons urged brands to remove heels, a business policy or comfort needs, Italian footwear industry, heavily affected by sneaker supremacy, is not going to rejoice in such fashion trend anyway. It seems a long time ago when Cesare Paciotti, the master of stilettos, used to remark: “When I look at a woman walking on heels and another one wearing flat shoes, I almost have the impression that God forgot about heels: fortunately, fashion designers have fixed such carelessness while giving back, to woman’s leg, its own peculiar elegance”. Do not tell him, by the way, about heel 70 (“Shoes look seated rather than slender”) or 80 (“A few years ago that was the top, now it looks like a sawn heel”). Heels must be 100 or 120, to help women get closer to the sky, while lending them, at the same time, a self-confident and seductively aggressive air. Who is going to be right?
Pictures taken from dior.com and chanel.com
