As a child living in trainers, the metamorphosis to shoe wearer and even worse, heel wearer has, for me, not been an easy process. I see celebs like Victoria Beckham mooching round in sky-high heels day after day and I ponder – how on earth does she do it? It is my mission to try and make life easier for heel wearers the world over to try and deduce the most wearable heel.

Brand – I am a great believer that better crafted shoes (read more expensive shoes) are more wearable/comfortable than cheaper versions and I have on the whole found this to be the case. Of all of the top-end shoes I have tested (e.g. Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Anya Hindmarch, Escada, Gucci etc.), I have found the most ‘wearable’ to be Prada. I have successfully managed full days of work in Prada heels, where other brands have been swapped out by lunch-time!

My comfiest designer shoe: Prada Exotic Chic Mimetico

What have others found? Who do you feel to be the comfiest designer? (any comments welcome it does not have to be top-end designer).

Heel size – Do you have to sacrifice style for comfort? My personal favourite is the kitten heel (approximately 2 inches). I really struggle in shoes over 3.5 inches (more training is certainly required)!

See this article for tips on how to train!

Shoe style – are wedges easier than stiletto? Do platforms beat the rest? I suppose it depends upon the style of the shoe but surely according to the rules of physics, the more supportive shoes will be the ones with more surface area in contact with the ground. Hence giving the mighty Wedge a great advantage.

Although we have neglected to mention the boot which should certainly be more supportive of the foot since there is much more of it available for support.

Other useful articles in the quest to the Comfort-zone:

The T-Bar

Training in Wedges

Summarising the research so far – the following may well be this summers most walkable options:

The kitten heel wedge!

The Office Kitten heel

The Chunky Heel

Supporting the T-Bar

I suppose the final question to be asked is ‘why’. Why on earth do we torture our feet day in day out with shoes which are actually hurting our feet? Does it come down to style, sophistication, fashion? According to research the reason is much more primal than that. Heel wearing is synonymous with sex. A pointed foot is more indicative of orgasm and therefore a pointed foot is sexier. Heels give height, and height can indicate power in a sexual situation. Plus wearing heels changes the shape of the calf, making it slender and more attractive.