White-collar worker Louise Wang suddenly realized one day that the sound of clicking of high heels in her office had disappeared.
Wang works for a Shanghai multinational company producing fast-moving consumer goods. The dress code was rather loose. For several years, she wore high heels to the office, but when one of the heels got stuck in an air outlet, she gave them up.
"Now even colleagues who are relatively short don't wear high heels anymore," she said. "And it's not just in our office in the suburbs, but also in the other office downtown. You seldom see anyone wearing high heels in the 40-story building."
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High heels are seldom seen on Shanghai streets nowadays. Instead, all styles of flat shoes steal the show.
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Is the era of sexy spiked heels over?
E-commerce platforms provide some answers. On leading online platform Taobao, for example, the most 10 popular shoe brands are now mostly flat shoes, such as sneakers, Martin boots and loafers.
In the flagship store of Belle, the bestselling shoe brand on Taobao, the most popular high heel is one matching wedding dresses. It ranks 23rd in the shop.
Another popular brand, Staccato, which was known for its fashion high heels just several years ago, is now featuring mostly flat shoes, with sales almost five times higher than for heels.
"This should have happened a long time ago," Wang said. "High heels are instruments of torture for women. They are neither comfortable nor practical."
Flat shoes enjoy the best sales in almost every shoe brand on Taobao.
Meanwhile Wang Yanfei, who is in post-production at a short-video company in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, said that there is no dress code at her workplace, so everybody wears T-shirts, jeans and sneakers to work.
Almost a decade younger than Louise Wang, she said she never understood the beauty of high heels.
"I studied in the United States for three years, and I never saw a pair of high heels on campus," she said. "It was my impression that the fashion trend of spike heels was washed out. It actually happened earlier than we realized. In fact, the only person I have seen recently in high heels was a woman in her 50s. That tells you a lot."
For a long time, high heels represented fashion elegance and sexiness. Marilyn Monroe once said, "I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot."
Oddly enough, raised heels were first invented for men. They emerged as shoes to grip stirrups, and by the late 16th century, they became the fashion about noblemen. You often see French kings in paintings wearing heels.
Portrait of French King Louis XIV (1638-1715) in a pair of high heels – a fashion style first embraced by noblemen.
In 17th century, the fashion spread to noble women just as men were beginning to abandon raised heels because they were regarded as heavy and clumsy.
In the 20th century, shorter dresses and high heels became a symbol of women's liberation – viewed as showing female power over their own bodies and a way to display physical beauty.
Meanwhile, fashion brands in Italy invented stilettos that featured higher and extremely thin heels. At first, they were revered as the height of feminine fashion; later they began to draw criticism as health hazards.
"Wearing high heels for long periods of time will harm both toes and various joints, from ankles to knees and even hips," said Wang Jian, a bone and joint surgeon with Nanfang Hospital affiliated to Southern Medical University. "When wearing high heels, women are forced to stand or walk on their tiptoes and their weight is pushed forward, exerting great pressure on joints and toes."
Some fashion experts say the COVID pandemic was the final gasp for high heels in China.
"I think the trend away from heels may have started even earlier than that, when sports and fitness became popular and brands like Lululemon and entered the public eye," said Sissi Gao, general manager of FRAME China, a Los Angeles fashion brand. "We have to admit that shoes with heels higher than 5 centimeters don't really fit in with daily life, no matter if we are talking about work, leisure or the dating scene."
Gao told Shanghai Daily that fashion aesthetics always change with time. High heels were associated with feminine beauty, slim bodies and graceful postures, but women nowadays are more interested in health and comfort.
"Our customers," she said, "will undoubtedly prioritize comfort, and that will also be reflected in shoe styles."
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Sporty feel brought out by leggings and sneakers has become a global fashion trend.
But will the era of high heels ever return? Maybe. Fashion dictates have a way of reappearing after a long absence.
Yuan Weiying, 79, loved high heels when she was younger.
"I still remember the 1980s, when high heels became popular after they entered the Chinese market during the period of opening up the economy," said the retired civil servant. "Women back then favored dresses and high heels because they were in stark contrast with what they had been wearing. The newfound beauty was so stunning that the sweet memory stays with me even today. But I seldom wore high heels after I turned 60. They really aren't safe for seniors."
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