After having frequented some of the chicest most buzzing restaurants in Paris, I noticed something was strangely amiss. There were stylishly dressed women, but none in high heels. I saw ballet flats, loafers, and even the occasional kitten heel… and wonder, has understated luxury fully taken over evening style? Has comfort finally triumphed over glamour?

For years, fashion has been moving towards ease. Sneakers replaced stilettos, loafers became evening staples, and somehow, even flip-flops have become a fashion statement. What was once reserved for the beach or a lazy summer day now feels perfectly acceptable almost anywhere.

The message seems clear: looking good should no longer have to hurt.

But perhaps something has been lost along the way. Because fashion was never only about comfort. It was about transformation, spectacle and the feeling of becoming someone else.

As a child, I was always fascinated by the high heel. And how couldn’t I, intuiting all too well just how it changes everything—the wearer’s body language, state of mind, attitude, behavior and gait, muscle tone, and walk (which in heels is more a sway, a strut or a sashay). Fundamentally, the high heel can define the way its wearer FEELS.

THE HIGH HEEL WAS NEVER JUST A SHOE.

Roger Vivier, one of the defining figures in the history of the modern stiletto, once referred to these playful pinnacles as a “tool of unstoppable seduction.” He well understood they possess a power MUCH too great to deny—a power no flat (or mid-heel), no matter how embellished, manages to replicate.. Flirtatiously high heels automatically make their wearer “un spectacle.” So I wonder. In our pursuit of comfort, for just how long will we retire fashion’s most theatrical object?