A Sport Not Just An Art

I used to say that walking in high-heeled shoes is an art. Now when I say walk I do not mean just moving. I mean being able to get from A to B whilst head high, strutting, posture correct, and exuding confidence.

This is my opinion only; if you cannot walk in heels then do not wear them. It’s embarrassing for everyone involved…you, the shoes and those that have see you. I love shoes as I have openly confessed on here and on average half if not more of my posts are footwear related. I also love heels. Again over half of my collection is made up of heeled shoes. The higher the better for me and I am very confident in them. I can run in them, dance to the entire Beyoncé B’day album in them (this is my cardio), work and play in them without fear.

On Monday that changed.

I recently acquired a pair of Nine West ‘Kanal’ wedges pictured on the right. I wore them for the first time to work on Monday. I felt super sexy in them, you can’t help but feel good in them. I’m in Brick Lane almost at my destination. If you are familiar with Brick Lane, you’ll know that there’s a sizeable section of it that is cobbled. And if you are familiar with high-heeled shoes then you’ll also know that cobbled streets are the enemy. Any who, I’m also carrying a heavy bag full of clothing and my handbag containing my laptop among other things. Basically I had a lot on my shoulders. I’ve got my music on loud, strutting and the next thing I know I am falling. It was one of those 2-fold falls. You know when you feel yourself getting closer to the pavement but you feel that you can get back up before you make contact to the floor and make it look like it was just a dance move? Well I thought that but I tripped some more and the added weight I had didn’t help it just took me down quicker. And there I was on the floor – fashion road kill.

I stumble into the coffee shop nearby to gather my momentum and take stock of what happened. After a minute or two I check myself over and dust myself off in the loo and realize that I’d been injured. 

Yes, I’d cut my knee. Weirdly though my lamé leggings were still in tact, not even a scratch. Then I look down at my shoes and realize that they too had been injured. 

Sad, sad, sad. I couldn’t believe it, my new shoes. Now it wasn’t the fact that I had fallen that upset me in fact I was laughing about that 2 minutes afterwards but that my shoes were scarred after wearing them for a couple of hours. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The real thing that got me was that immediately I was scared to take another step in them and it was still morning, I had a whole working day ahead of me. That same morning in the same shoes I had been running whilst on the phone with all those bags and nothing happened. My confidence was shaken to its very core. The things that hyped it up had now deflated it.

It wasn’t until 4pm that it dawned on me that I was allowing this to get out of hand. Yes my shoes and myself were hurting but it could have been much worse for the both of us. On looking at the shoes this morning the damage is not so bad. Plus it is really good to be able to laugh at yourself. Even as I type I am laughing about it because it was funny. Not enough time is spent laughing. And as for my confidence I soon got that back. See I know now that walking in heels is not an art but a sport where there are winners and losers and injured parties. Even the seasoned pro will encounter hurdles. Just get back up, dust yourself off and strut.

PS. Chivalry may not be dead. A kind young man did come back to me to see if I was OK as my arse hit the floor and helped me up on to my feet. May God bless you for not laughing in my face!