What Does Your Preferred Heel Height Say About You?

Sometimes, choosing a pair of shoes has nothing to do with need and everything to do with feeling taller. It's been shown that a pair of stilettos can make us feel elevated, literally and figuratively. When you're as short as me, this tends to be the case. But even the shortest among us want to lower the heel every once in a while to give our feet a break from the blistering pain. Naturally, we still have a preference. While some of us feel our best in a pair of 6 inch pumps, others are perfectly confident in pointy-toed flats. It's time to decide which one you identify with. Here is a (totally made up) quiz to help you out.

If you prefer...

FLATS
Is Alexa Chung your style icon? Do you have a pinterest board featuring all of her best looks? If so, it could be because flats are your jam. Your motto? Who needs the pain of a heel when you can look just as chic in a pair of brogues? Whether you're feeling the menswear look or the classic ballet flat, you almost always opt for a comfortable shoe that allows you to move around easily. You're an easygoing person whose favourite activity is to Netflix and chill. Don't get me wrong, you love a good social gathering every now and again and your warm personality makes you a winner in a crowd. However, cuddling up with a good book suits you just fine as well.

via fashiongum.com

KITTEN HEELS
You're a classy lady with an exuding confidence that draws people towards you. You love a chic little heel because it projects elegance and grace no matter the occasion without drawing in too much attention. When looking for the perfect shoe, you don't seek height, but rather a demure heel that breathes femininity. You enjoy brunch and tea parties with your gang of girls and love a good chick flick. Your sophistication is what makes everyone wish they were just like you because let's face it, not everyone could pull off a kitten heel.

via manrepeller.com

3 INCH STILETTOS
You may be chic and elegant, but you're also someone nobody can mess with. You have an inner strength that is exhibited in the most daunting situations. You always have your friends' backs and will stop at nothing to get them justice when they are wronged. And you'll do it in your 3 inch stilettos. You love a good party, especially the cocktail kind, surrounded by all of your closest friends. On your quiet nights, you enjoy watching old movies, preferably the tearjerkers.

via pinterest

5 INCH PLATFORMS
Whether you're a little on the short side or you simply lust after Rachel Zoe's closet, platforms are your shoe of choice. When you walk into a room, you'd like people to know that you mean business. Some people may view you as intense, slightly dramatic, and occasionally, a loner, but none of these things bother you. You know who you are and you love to announce your presence in a room. You can be a little rebellious, but you almost always have a cause.

via 5inchandup.blogspot.com

Which shoe is your favourite?

Ponder it,

Bella

Flats On The Red Carpet: A Do Or A Don't?

Back in the day, the Red Carpet was reserved for Elie Saab gowns and occasionally a Dior jumpsuit (if you're as cool as Emma Watson). While a few have played around with the rules, there is one that seems slightly less flexible.

Can one wear flats on the Red Carpet?

via pinterest

Obviously, we live in a world of progress. Pants are now permitted on and off the carpet. Gay marriage was legalized. Parisians are wearing sneakers. The world is clearly a'changing.

But flats on the Red Carpet? Meh.

It's commonly accepted that after hours of standing in heels, your feet will hurt. If you're Jennifer Lawrence, you may trip on yourself. Twice. Or was it three times? I've lost track. If you're Emma Thompson, you've already said "to hell with it" and discarded your heels in a moment of frustration in front of an audience of A-listers. However, those are the exceptions. Most women will never dare walk a Red Carpet event in anything but their classiest pair of shoes. Whether they are wearing a floor-length gown that hides them or even a tuxedo Diane Keaton style, high heels are always a MUST.

But what if they weren't?
What if someone decided to break the rules?

Sure, heels elongate your legs and make them look 10 miles longer, but what of comfort? What of elegant flats that don't deter from the centerpiece that is your dress? Could this possibly be an underrated concept?

Fashion is about crossing boundaries. It's about inspiring people to change their mind about something they once deemed unacceptable. It's about shortening hems, removing the corsets, and allowing women to move with ease. And isn't that the purpose of flats? Fluidity of movement? Are flats a stepping stone in the feminist debate?

Ponder it,

Bella

Whimsical Flats Could Change Your Perspective On This "Unflattering" Shoe

via wwwnymag.com

While watching reruns of Sex and the City, all you see is Carrie Bradshaw skipping across the streets of New York in Manolos looking glamorous. You keep yourself up-to-date on street style at Fashion Week and you're overwhelmed by the number of Adidas sneakers and sky high wedges you only dream of adding to your closet. You go wild for the array of shoes at Red Carpet events.

But where do flats fit in?

The answer? Nowhere.

Fine, I'm exaggerating slightly. Some women live in their flats. However, nobody aspires to flats.

Let me explain.

When you ogle at a pair of high heels in a shop window, you start to salivate as you envision how they would look with your brand new LBD. When winter hits, you explore the option of stiletto boots and mourn the day a snowstorm invades your city, preventing you from wearing your favourite over-the-knee leather pair. Come summer, you cannot resist those lace-up high heeled sandals that everyone is raving about in your inner circle. But, how do ballet flats make you feel?

For one thing, they are the practical shoe. They are the shoes you have to wear to give your feet a break from that unnatural arch. You don't dream of flats. You don't fantasize about wearing them on a first date with that guy who delivers your pizza. You merely contemplate them for a moment because they might just allow you to spend a day racing around the mall to catch up on your shoe shopping. And in the world of fashion, who dreams of practicality? In fact, the word is almost taboo (unless you're Alexa Chung). We strive for originality and wearing things #forthesakeoffashion not #forthesakeofbeingpractical. People criticize fashion people for their propensity to wear a light leather jacket in the winter or layer to no avail rather than purchasing a warm parka. It is what this world is known for.

Until now.

Allow me to introduce: The Whimsical Flat.

Charlotte Olympia has transformed my vision of this once dreary pair of shoes by presenting one that has more personality than the average. By adding whimsy to her shoes with a cat face, I've begun to wrap my head around flats in a way I never thought possible.

Could this be a game changer? Can I actually be fantasizing about cat flats?

Let me ponder it,

XOXO,

Bella

Flats Are My Fruits and Vegetables

Let's get this established right from the get-go: I do not believe in trends. Is that a fashion cliché? Perhaps. But it's one that I'm willing to indulge in for the sake of avoiding a more serious faux-pas. I'd also like to let something else off my chest: I prefer fashion-averted girls who stay true to themselves over trend-following fashionistas. Remember ladies, trends are simply there for inspiration. They are NOT the ten commandments.

Now, how does this relate to shoes? Or better yet, how does it relate to fruits and vegetables? Let's just say that the fashion world loves to connect food to fashion. Hence the term, "arm candy".

What are the similarities between fashion and food, you ask?

1. They are both desirable.
2. They share addictive qualities.
3. Everyone has different tastes.
4. They consume us. We consume them. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.
5. They're both associated with guilty pleasures and instant gratification.

Sophia Webster Shoes
via www.shoeera.com

This Spring, the magazines and the media have thrown flats our way, inspiring ladies to give their feet a break, while still looking put-together. For a fleeting moment, I was sold. Three cheers for comfort. The Chanel Haute Couture runway show featured sneakers and the world was revolutionized. Mind-blown as I was, I wasn't falling for this ploy. Pointy-flats elongate the foot, ballet flats are still for little girls, and sneakers are for the gym. Even then, I do Pilates and that requires bare feet. Universally unflattering, what qualities do flats have that heels do not (comfort aside)? In my eyes, flats are merely a necessity created to recuperate the damage done to our poor calloused toes from our stilettos. Like fruits and veggies, they are thrust upon us with the promise of health and an illusion of beauty. But at the end of the day, as the wise Aaron Carter once said "I Want Candy". Heels may destroy your feet to no avail, but they're so darn pretty. At a mere 5 feet tall, I need the extra inches and if it didn't hurt so much, I'd wear them every day. Like candy, high heels exude endorphins (or maybe that's just me) and fill us with incomparable thrill. We just can't get enough.

But then again, I'm a junk food addict, so what do I know?

Bella

Sophia Webster Shoes
via snapette.com