Flats or heels? How the pandemic polarised footwear

During the first UK lockdown in early 2020, I fantasised about all the great shoes I would wear once I was allowed to sit inside a bar or dance at a house party. But nearly two years later, I’m still reaching for the same pairs of house slippers, sneakers and the occasional rainproof boots. A pair of black Nike Lahars with a chunky hiking sole are the only shoes I’ve bought since 2019.

To me, heels have never seemed so irrelevant. Yet the second-hottest women’s product on search engine Lyst in the third quarter was Versace’s Medusa Aevitas platform pumps in shimmering satin, which were revealed on the Versace runway in March and immediately spotted on the likes of Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé.

On the streets, I’ve started to spot a handful of regular wearers of impossibly high platform boots and hear the click-clack of heels on Friday nights. Am I really the only one sticking to Nikes and Doc Martens? The answer, like our post-Covid life, is complicated.

According to multi-brand boutiques Browns in London and Luisa Via Roma in Florence, shoppers returned to statement shoes as soon as they heard lockdowns were easing last year. “It literally went ‘boop’ overnight,” says Hollie Harding, buying manager for non-apparel at Browns. “The customer shifted from boots to heels — embellished, glitter, satin, colourful. I thought there would be a bit of gradation with heel height, but they went straight back to 100mm heels and platforms.” Brands such as Amina Muaddi and Mach&Mach, which offer embellished heeled shoes in silk-satin and PVC, started to sell out as soon as they were available.

“It’s a trend much stronger than before,” says Graziella Carta, senior buyer at Luisa Via Roma, where Amina Muaddi and Mach&Mach shoes are also popular, alongside options from Aquazzura, Versace, René Caovilla and Roger Vivier.

Irakli Kikolashvili, general manager of Georgian brand Mach&Mach, which was founded in 2012, says that sales spiked 500 per cent in 2020 over 2019 as consumers looked for “sparkle and emotion”. (The sale increase was also powered by the decision to move production to Italy at the end of 2019, which allowed the brand to increase quantities, improve quality and meet the demand of international buyers.)

Amina Muaddi, founder of the eponymous brand, thinks her shoes acted as a mood booster during the pandemic. Over the past 12 months, sales have increased 150 per cent. “It was an escape from reality. Women wanted to buy pretty things, because if you stay a year at home wearing a tracksuit it affects your mood,” she says. The brand has continued to sell out at Browns.

For other shoppers, however, going back to their pre-pandemic dressing habits, especially in terms of footwear, has been challenging. “People are relearning how to dress, how to look good and how to feel good,” says personal stylist Neelam Mistry-Thaker. “When it comes to heels, they are almost daunted by it.”

“Most people I have come into contact with can’t be doing with heels any more,” echoes stylist, shopper and image consultant Laura Fawcett.

“I have a wardrobe full of the most glorious shoes — and all I have worn in two years are sneakers and Birkenstocks,” says my former colleague Penelope, who was going through cancer treatment and shielding in 2020. “Whenever I open my wardrobe, I feel a little bit sad.”

She’s had a hard time reconnecting with her pre-Covid wardrobe. “Once lockdown three had finally lifted, all my habits relating to getting dressed and seeing people in person had changed,” she continues. “It’s been a really conscious and hard process over the last few months to reconnect me now to me then. Shoes have been the hardest bit because it feels like an effort to put on heels or something deeply impractical when I’m only going for a walk around the park or to the local shops.”

This polarised approach to footwear is confirmed by Lyst, which records sneakers, loafers and platform heels as the top three footwear choices for women globally in the past three months. In the third quarter, the hottest items after the aforementioned Versace Medusa Aevitas platform pumps were the hyper-comfortable and casual: pool slides from Bottega Veneta, Nike React Vapor NXT sneakers and JW Anderson chain loafer mules.

Whether it’s heels, flats, platform shoes or boots, shoppers are gravitating to styles that make them feel emotionally and psychologically comfortable and that can work in a variety of settings. Stylist and consultant Sara King Moura has dropped high heels but still wears kitten heels in neutral hues to suit different occasions. “Since the pandemic I have stayed hyper-faithful to styles that cover all year around,” she says.

With the help of stylist Alison McDougal, my ex-colleague Penelope is rediscovering her wardrobe and how it feels to wear nice things, while making adaptations for her current self. “She helped me realise that I could still wear lovely things and I could wear them just for me if I wanted to,” she says. “Rather than having a ‘lust list’ of future purchases, now I am shopping my [existing] shoe collection. But I did throw away my skanky sneakers and replace them with something more fun — so maybe it’s just a matter of time.”

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