Flats have fought a battle with heels, their arch nemesis, for centuries. They just about weathered the two-inch boost given to Catherine de Medici on her wedding day, which gave a boost to heels for some time after. They came back into style when Marie Antoinette sported heels on the way to the guillotine in perhaps the greatest public relations disaster in footwear history. It was the inimitable Audrey Hepburn, though, in the 1957 movie Funny Face, who ensured that ballet flats would become a staple of every girl’s wardrobe, and qualify in the process for inclusion in the Timeless 50.
Comfort is one reason they will stay there: tottering around on heels all day is not exactly a fun proposition.
But they can also look great with skinny jeans, leggings or a short skirt, whether you are talking the classic lines of dance-shoe specialist Bloch, the elegant originality of London Sole, or the daring of Christian Louboutin.
Flats will always have their defenders, including it would seem the UK’s Trades Unions Congress which was recently to be found debating a ban on high heels for the damage they cause to the suffering feet of Britain’s women. Ballet flats, it would seem are not only timeless but the healthier option. Vote now for ballet flat’s inclusion in the Timeless 50.
Tags: Audrey Hepburn, Ballet Flats, fashion, high heels, vw, vw timeless 50