Ask anyone I know if I wear flats and you will receive a resounding no in response. Being on the smaller side of five foot, heels are my saviour, my confidence (and height) booster, and my constant companion in the curse of being vertically challenged. My philosophy in this respect has always been the ‘higher the better’ and I have a serious amount of six inch platforms to prove this point, not to mention some amazing (but towering) wedges.
On the first day at my new job in Dubai I picked out an extremely high pair of black, snakeskin Kurt Geiger’s with an immense platform. These are my ‘go to’ pair when I need that little extra few inches, and remarkably comfortable or so I thought…
What I didn’t really bank on when I moved over here was how much walking one actually does in this pedestrian unfriendly town. Not wanting to brave the undeniably scary highways, I have been taking the metro daily to my place of work in Dubai Health Care City. Whilst this 45min metro ride is perfect for catching up on your reading, the long walk from station to destination is slightly more than I had bargained for. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have an aversion to walking, in my home town in the UK you will often see me striding across the fields in my only pair of flats- my wellingtons (Hunters of course), but metro etiquette does not adhere well to mega heels.
After one week of heel clad metro walking I decided it was better to adapt to my environment and take a cue from the sensible working women who adorn the steel walkways. When before I would always drool when seeing a smart pair of Prada peep toes, I now found myself salivating over the pretty ballerina pumps and Birkenstocks on the feet of these well dressed women, while I hobbled over the foot bridge in my beautiful (instruments of torture) Kurt Geiger’s. What I then noticed was that these women carried two handbags. Interesting I thought, what could be the reason for this? Then I realised that these carefully arranged overflow bags were shoe bags! How ingenious! Why hadn’t I thought of this?! Comfort for walking, heels for work, and a chance to carry two of your beloved handbags (addicted to bags just as badly by the way) was a sure fire equation for success.
It was imperative that I adopted this new philosophy and so that night I high tailed it to the Mall to get myself some flats. What I didn’t bargain for was how my addiction could manifest itself so delightfully to flats. Now, three months and five pairs of flats later I am a fashion savvy, flats wearing commuter who can rush from platform to platform with ease. The only person who has really lost out is my pedicurist.
Sophie Fletcher
Dubai
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