I spent my office years teetering about the carpet tiles in increasingly bonkers shoes – chiefly because I was a fashion editor and it was expected that the stiletto and the slingback should feature heavily in my wardrobe. For less idiotic women, it’s still a good idea to pay absolute attention to your shoes at work: they are a good indication of your status, ambition and lifestyle. As any French woman will tell you, your shoes are inveterate gossips; they say more about you than a CV ever could. They are also the foundation of your working day – whether you’re running for the bus or running the company - which is why it is vital to get it right. In business, your shoes really need to walk the walk. Play it too safe and you’re dull, dull, dull.
A pair that nod cleverly but discreetly to the state of play in fashion will set you out as a player, and give you a confident spark in your step as you walk up to make that presentation. But don’t over do it. Go too fizzy, too fashionable, too zany or too high and any gravitas you may possess is lost.
Leopard print and polka-dot will make you look like a fashion floozy (Teresa May MP came across as frivolous not foxy in those Tory Conference kitten heels). Get it right, though, and your shoes won’t just walk. They’ll talk.
So how to achieve the delicate balance required from a work shoe? A plain business suit does, after all, demand something interesting at ground-level. The best advice, though not necessarily the most popular, is that you get what you pay for. One pair of super, mid-heel shoes from Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin will wow a thousand meetings. Go for a plain colour – navy, black, tan, chocolate-brown – with interest in the design (a peep-toe, say, or an exotic skin). Or do the opposite: choose a colour with a bit of attitude (a two-tone, perhaps) and go for a classic shape. The court shoe is perpetually popular for a reason: on the whole, it is comfortable, cool, hard-working and hard-wearing. You can’t say the same about a pair of silver gladiator sandals with whip-thin straps tracing up your shin. Keep those in your handbag for picnics in the park after work.