FLAT CHANCE: A HEEL JUNKIE COMES TO TERMS WITH SENSIBLE FOOTWEAR

I have always been a heels girl. During the days of my private high school’s restrictive dress code, which prohibited jeans, most t-shirts, and fun, I could often be found strutting the halls in five inch platform heels. Just because I felt like it.

Heels were, for me, a source of confidence, a medium for self expression, and a way to cure the boredom of being a (relatively) small person at a small school in a small town. I loved them, and I loved wearing them. On the rare days when I was seen without heels, my friends would often remark that they had forgotten how short I was on my own. Heels made me feel tall, stylish, and invincible. But I knew everything would have to change once I came to Northwestern.

College is, in many ways, a wasteland of fashionless footwear. The shoes you wear must withstand miles of walking each day, Chicago’s unpredictable weather patterns, and the unavoidable coating of spilled alcohol and mud that appears after a successful night out. In addition to all of this, they have to be comfy—we are a generation on the go, after all.

Luckily for me, my ascent to higher education has coincided with the ascent of fashion-forward sensible footwear. Shoes that are cute and comfortable are no longer a trend to be highlighted or hated, they are a cultural phenomenon—a reflection of the current societal and political climate. They are a generational statement about what we value as Millenials, and what we choose to ignore.

From Yeezys to Birkenstocks to Superstars to Supergas, it would seem that we are in the midst of a flat-footed renaissance. Men and women alike can now walk on equal ground in more ways than one, and that is a beautiful thing. Although I sometimes miss my beloved chunky Marni mules, I have been experiencing a new sort of freedom in college, a freedom that comes without blisters or sore arches.

Although there is a definite boost in confidence that comes with slipping into a sexy pair of pumps, that boost is often lost only an hour later when you find yourself limping and moving at a snail’s pace. The confidence that comes with pounding the pavement in your favorite pair of sneakers, however, is quite different. Instead of the literal and metaphorical feeling of being above it all that comes from walking at a 90 degree angle, you feel connected—to the ground, to a purpose, to yourself. The freedom of wearing flat shoes is so much more than a physical freedom of movement, it is a freedom to be ready for anything at anytime, an affirmation that you don’t need to be dressed like Carrie Bradshaw to be a badass working woman, that there is nothing wrong with finding a little comfort within yourself and within your footwear.
 

It goes without saying that this is wonderful news for fashion. In the midst of the obsessive peacocking of street style, there is something sort of radical about returning to the basics. In an industry that often seems to be trying too hard, a comfortable shoe might be just the thing we need to save our soles. Flat shoes do not limit fashion. Instead, they expand its borders—challenging fashionistas everywhere to stop obsessing over setting trends and simply wear whatever makes them happy. They are the epitome of self-confidence and mindfulness, a statement that their wearer has nothing to prove. 

Although I will probably never have the height or the style sensibilities to wear flat shoes to a semi-formal event, they have still left their mark on my day-to-day footwear choices. I now wear Birkenstocks in public without shame. I walk for miles without being held back by blisters. I feel confidence within myself that, before, I would only have felt while wearing stilettos. Sensible footwear has reminded me to stop trying so hard and to be myself. Now, I can strut across campus without the help of a platform wedge, confident in the fact that I will not be held back by something as trivial as my choice in footwear. I put one foot in front of the other. I walk tall on my own.