At the end of a long night, when your feet are in so much pain from wearing heels that you actually consider sleeping on the sidewalk (don’t tell me you haven’t been there!), you have one of two options: go barefoot – and depending on where you are, risk a gangrene infection by stepping on broken glass – or if you planned ahead, put on those awful, rolled-up ballerina flats that prevented you from carrying that beautiful, mini clutch, forcing you instead to schlep around a giant tote all night. Neither case is graceful or pleasant. If only there was some miracle shoe that would magically make the heels disappear, so that you could continue the night with friends and grab a slice of pizza that sober, diet-regimented you would never go near. Wait…what did you say? There is such a shoe?!
TANYA HEATH Paris has been gaining serious traction abroad, and is now debuting in the US with a store on LA’s Robertson Blvd. this Friday, May 1st. Don’t fret if you’re nowhere near there, though; they’re opening their ecommerce shop in the next few months. All of the ingeniously-designed shoes have removable heels; just take them off and voilà! The shoes instantly become flats. There are additional heels you can purchase to perfectly pair with your best outfit, so you buy one shoe (which does NOT come with heels) and you get the option of purchasing whichever heels work for you. You can also buy additional options to broaden the versatility of that shoe. All heels work with all shoe styles!
I don’t want to make it sound like I’m such a lush, and a crazy night out is the only time these shoes are useful. Think about a long day out with a meeting in-between. How many times have you had to pack extra shoes in your bag so you can run errands too? Or what about girls who commute on the train to work? All the footbeds have memory foam for ultimate comfort. Not only are there so many instances when these would be lifesavers, but because they have interchangeable heels, you get major versatility without buying new shoes.
There are three basic categories; Liberty (boots), Power (think, work pumps), and Seduction (going out). My favorites are the Astrid (395 €) with the Mica heel (395 €) and the Helen (360 €) that I can wear with the same heel. No, these are not your dazzle-me Nicholas Kirkwoods (I only wear those when there’s valet parking); these are for daily life when walking is required.
