Heels vs. flat shoes: what's cooler, stilettos or ballet flats?

Highlights: Heels vs. flat shoes: what's cooler, stilettos or ballet flats? We brought together two experts, shoe designer Isabel Moralejo and ISEM professor Amalia Descalzo. The heel has always been associated, as Isabel points out, "with prestige and high society" Amalia goes back in time to remember that the heel emerged in men's footwear and that the person who wore it best was none other than Louis XIV, the Sun King, who made it something exclusive to the court.

We brought together two experts, shoe designer Isabel Moralejo and ISEM professor Amalia Descalzo, to find out which model wins the game.

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In the retina, a woman at the top with a skirt suit and jacket with marked shoulders, and

infinite-heeled stilettos.

In the reality of 2024, a woman also with power in a pantsuit and flat shoes. Because today can you do without the heel without giving up glamour?

To answer this question

we quote two women,

one who has founded her business on the flat, and the other, a fashion historian, who firmly believes that "the role played by a heel is not played by a flat shoe."

Two women, two opinions

The first is

Isabel Moralejo, creator of the

Adeba

shoe brand ,

chosen a few days ago by Queen Letizia for a day of work at the APRAMP headquarters in Madrid, when she wore black pants, a tweed jacket and patent leather ballet flats. with bracelet.

The two chatters at a moment of the talk.FELIPE DÍAZ DE VIVAR

The second,

Amalia Descalzo,

fashion historian,

professor at ISEM Fashion Business School,

an entity of the University of Navarra that has joined the Costume Museum and the Prado Museum to organize a conference on fashion in the 18th century in Spain , which will be held on September 18, 19 and 20 of this year.

In search of cool

Let's get into the matter and define positions. While Amalia defends heels especially in certain situations, Isabel assures that "there are more options" and that the trends now go the other way: "It is much cooler to wear a flat shoe.

Style is not about being tall, which is what Not only does the heel give you, but many other things,

the way you combine clothes, the mix of colors and fabrics, the proportions... There are people who believe that with a little black dress and a heel you can go anywhere, no matter what. "The best thing is much more stylish to wear that same LBD with a ballerina. That look is going to attract more attention."

Accustom the eye

But for that we have to fight against what we have been seeing for many years both aesthetically and socially. Amalia goes back in time to remember that the heel emerged in men's footwear and that the person who wore it best was none other than

Louis XIV, the Sun King,

who made it something exclusive to the court.

Amalia Descalzo, professor at ISEM.FELIPE DÍAZ DE VIVAR

That's right, the heel has always been associated, as Isabel points out, "with

prestige

and high society." Because? In reality, because throughout history it has been carried by people who did not work, or worked little. "Not wearing mules at the beginning of the 18th century was being out of fashion. After the French Revolution," Amalia recalls, "neoclassicism arrived, with what it meant as an imitation of Greek statues, and with the tunic-type dresses of that time. "The heels didn't fit at all, so they were thrown away. It was in the mid-19th century when they were recovered."

The dictates of fashion

A question of fashions that come and go, then? For Isabel, yes, who reviews how in the last catwalks the heel has practically been conspicuous by its absence and how the street style photos, in which the true experts in trends show off their looks on the streets of the main capitals, from New York to Paris and Milan or Copenhagen nowadays never wear stilettos.

"You will not see Chiara Ferragni with a classic Louboutin,

as happened before," he says, "now all luxury brands present their flat models: Miu Miu has its ballet flats, as do Margiela, Alaïa, Prada, Chanel, Ferragamo or Roger Vivier, and this and the street have forced Louboutin, Jimmy Choo or Aquazzura to include them in their catalogues, as have low-cost brands. Zara has gone from having three models of ballet flats to 20 or 30."

The other aspect that must be taken into account is that "we have established concepts and aesthetics in our memory, and now we must accustom our eyes," says Amalia, "the first time I saw a black dress with red sneakers, I was surprised and It gave me the impression that there was not a good dialogue between those pieces. Indeed, for many years there has been a rule to follow, but now, according to the two interviewees, this

has been broken.

Heel for everyday life?

Also the choice between heel and flat has a lot to do with the current lifestyle. "Since the history of fashion began," says Amalia, "we have always been looking for more comfortable garments, and that is where we are getting to now," to which she adds: "The shoe is a fundamental accessory and is in

accordance with the moment we have had to live".

Can someone put on stilettos at 8 in the morning to run to take the children to school, spend the day at work, pick them up, go to the supermarket or attend an after-work event?

"Life is not for wearing heels,"

Isabel states bluntly, but Amalia qualifies this statement: "I defend it for that situation of rupture of everyday life, the moment of glamour. Of course, if we apply common sense we cannot wear it all the time." day, it's like we have to drive with a crinoline.

Heel and glamor

From this last statement it follows that there is no glamor without a heel, something with which Isabel does not agree at all.

"A flat shoe can be the center of your look

and in fact my shoes work both for a party and with jeans, they are being bought a lot for events. For example, if you wear a simple black dress and some fuchsia ballet flats with embellishments of bright, you're going to attract attention.

Isabel Moralejo, founder of the Adeba shoe brand. FELIPE DÍAZ DE VIVAR

But isn't it true that a woman in a good heel feels more confident about herself? For Isabel this is nothing more than "a psychological effect, a placebo effect." And Amalia explains this sensation by the heel's property of being

"an extension of the self",

which allows a woman to feel bigger, more powerful.

Height, but not style

Something they seem to agree on is that the heel is stylish. Here Isabel says with humor: "Without a doubt it stylizes, but it stylizes height, it does not give more style. And be careful, because

proportions

must always be maintained,

if a woman who measures 1.60 meters wears 12 centimeter heels it is unsightly" . To which Amalia adds an also important point: "You have to know how to walk in heels."

And they both remember the pain they cause in their feet half an hour after being at a party - "and in their back," adds Isabel - and

"the pleasure"

you feel when you take them off when you get home.

The conclusions

At the conclusion of the talk, Isabel Moralejo, after confessing that she herself married some dancers, makes a request to the readers:

"That people do not close themselves

and believe that they are going to look more elegant with a heel. They are going to look higher." , yes, but nothing more. I remember that the great top Inès de la Fressange said: 'Ask any man if he will love you more for wearing heels or not.'"

And Amalia is inclined to continue defending its use: "Yes, the heel at some point and with some dress. You must always have some in that wardrobe, like a black dress. Well worn, it

gives you a elegance that the dress doesn't give you. flat.

But one of the achievements we have achieved is precisely this: having that freedom and that personality to say: 'I wear what I want.'"

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