Alyson Walsh, former fashion editor and successful blogger whose creed is that ‘style is forever’ writes exclusively for It’s A Shoe Thing.
Did you hear about #HeelGate?
It started when London temp worker Nicola Thorp was sent home from a job with a finance company (via an outsourcing agency) for turning up in flat shoes. Thorp refused to go out and buy a pair of ‘2in to 4in heels’ and by the end of the week, over 100, 000 women had signed a petition demanding a change in workplace rules and flat shoes were trending on Twitter. In a show of solidarity, women at work all over the country (including a few MPs) tweeted snaps of their flat shoes. Sensible shoes in the news, hooray!
‘I think dress codes should reflect society and nowadays women can be smart and formal and wear flat shoes,’ said Thorp, my new Shero (Shoe Hero).
Call me naïve, but I had assumed this kind of dress code had gone out with Amstrad computers. I can remember being completely flummoxed, in my early twenties, when I turned up on the first day of a new job in a pair of knee length ‘city shorts,’ a neat cardigan and pair of penny loafers, only to be told that my outfit was unacceptable. Admittedly, this was not about the shoes, it was about the shorts; even though they were smart, tailored and in a lovely Prince of Wales check fabric, they were deemed unacceptable by my employer. I was working in fashion for heaven’s sake! Nearly thirty years later, when business clothing has become more relaxed, this kind of workplace dress code seems downright silly – particularly when there are more important things like equal pay to consider, but hey, that’s another blog post…
My immediate thought when I heard about #HeelGate was, ‘what’s wrong with a pair of smart loafers?’
We are in the middle of peak loafer season and this ever-so versatile shoe can be worn with cropped trousers, Capri pants, rolled up jeans, dresses and skirts. Though take my advice and go for an A-line tunic style, a shirtdress or a pleated metallic skirt, something looser with a bit of volume to shoosh things up. As well as the discomfort factor, super high heels can cause: bunions, back pain and degenerative joint disease – I won’t go on, suffice to say that I’ll be putting my best foot forward in a pair of chic loafers, this summer.
[separator type=”thin”]Brierton and Sorbet are fabulous all rounders – team with cropped trousers, dresses or skirts.
[separator type=”thin”]The beatiful colour palette of these popular loafers gives them versatility no matter what your style.
[separator type=”thin”]There’s no compromise between style and comfort with our selection of beautiful heeled and pretty wedge shoes and sandals with hidden features including Pyramid Technology, cushioning and wiggle room for toes. Discover our full range of comfortable heels here.
I am as happy as a dancing foot now that I find Hotter dipping into the world of loafers. I have already added two pairs of loafers to my shoe shelves and hope I can restrain my computer from going beyond that for the present year! Is Hotter’s next venture possibly the ‘saddle shoe’ which was popular for high school/college ladies during that same time (1940’s)?