Fashion designers say that accessories are as important as clothes.

This is especially true of shoes.

So, what is happening to shoes these days? It used to be: the narrower the shoe, the higher the heel, the more uncomfortable the wearer’s feet, the better. The better from the high fashion point of view, that is. One could go as far as to say that if several models did not fall on the runway due to impossibly high heels, those shoes were simply lacking something.

And the female population of the world silently suffered in high heels…

Lately, all of a sudden, fashion designers are pairing chunky, hefty, clunky, rubber-soled, Velcro-fastening, thoroughly un-sexy and ugly, flat shoes or shoes with or trunk-like heel with even evening gowns!

Is that the sign that the practical and the comfortable are finally the trend in the world of footwear? Does it mean that the feminists who have berated us for consenting to suffer for looks can finally heave a sigh of relief?

Not so fast. Fashion being fashion, things are not always as they seem. If the in shoes of today – the pool slides, the trainers, the jelly sandals – are comfortable, that’s just an unintentional side-effect. Ideally, the trendy shoe of today is both uncomfortable and ugly. Talk about adding insult to blisters…