Tab Guide to high heels

The world of heels is a tricky one. Here’s a handy guide to help you out, every step of the way. 

How to find the right heel

If you’re an absolute beginner, I would go for a short block heel. They’re very in at the moment and comfortable enough to wear for literally 24 hours if you wanted to. Chic.

If you want to venture to greater heights, start with heeled ankle boots – they support your whole foot and limit wobbling. If booties aren’t for you, then thicker heels with an ankle strap and a platform (which lessens the angle of your foot) are also great.

Once you’re onto stilettos, strappy sandals are the way to go. Again, they’ll support your ankles and your arches, so you’re less likely to get tense and achey, or fall. I would only recommend wearing non-strappy stilettos of 100mm or higher for sit down dinners. Aint nobody got time for hobbling.

Always try on shoes at at the end of your shopping trip, preferably on a hot day, because that’s when your feet will be most swollen, like they would be after dancing.

How to walk

Walking heel to toe is number one rule. But more importantly, you need to walk with confidence. If you’re worrying about falling, your whole body tenses up and you end up tottering about like a bambi on ice. Fake it till you make it. Take slower, smaller steps and get a little hip sway going on. It helps, promise.

How to deal with the  p a i n

To relieve the pain in the ball of your foot, you can tape your third and fourth toes together with some micropore (sellotape at a push). It works better for me than those gel cushion pad things.

For pointy toed leather shoes, or ones that are a bit tight at the front, pop a couple of ziplock bags half-full of water in the front and freeze them over night. The water will expand into ice and slightly stretch them out.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Normal plasters are useless. They flake off, rub up inside your shoes and just make the whole blister situation way worse than it was to begin with. Any kind of specific blister plaster brand is a much better bet, but the best by far is Compeed. Not sponsored, sadly.

If you have bought a pair of insanely beautiful but life-destroylingly painful heels then get yourself a pair of fold up flats. That way at the end of the evening you won’t have to walk barefoot.

After all of that, maybe it’s easier to just stick to flats.