In occasion of his Paris fashion show, French luxury brand, Yves Saint Laurent presented a shoe with an ‘invisible heel’ for its autumn/winter collection 2017/2018. The pumps feature a horizontal heel. Vogue asked a professor of physics at Columbia University, Michael Tuts, to reveal how this shoe can work the trick. “Essentially, the foot exerts a force onto the plant. This force is transmitted to the flat heel, which, in turn, exerts a force on the ground in both the heel and the ground”. “In this sense, this is no different from a regular shoe where the foot exerts a force onto the plant, and the plant refers this force on the ground through the vertical heel and the tip. “In the case of the shoe with the “invisible” heel, it is important to stress that the ‘fake’ heel base, placed on the ground, is long enough to balance the weight while walking. “From the physical point of view – ensures the professor – the only security problem is that the lower part extends beyond the point at which most of the weight press onto the shoe”.
