Hello, kitty
Welcome backack the favourite shoe silhouette of the 90s. But this time they come with more attitude.
My feet are feeling a bit smug right now because they’re cosily encased in Dior’s new kitten heels. Yes, those ones – the ribbed fabric pair with dressmaker’s cream ribbon wrapped around the slingback, logoed with “J’adior”. They caught my eye at Maria Grazia Chiuri’s inaugural collection for the French house and have been on my shopping list ever since. As a whole, these are satisfyingly minimal shoes: the heels have a considered shape, gently sloping from the rim of the sole, while the ribbons add the buzzy detailing. They provide just the right amount of lift to the derrière while not hampering swift movement, and offer a nice respite from towering stilettos (I never wear them), platforms (dangerous and everywhere), fashionable slides (a shoe styled on a Birkenstock has its limits) and fuglies (the clue’s in the name). No wonder we’re falling in love with kittens again. They feel on the go (probably why British Prime Minister Theresa May employs the style as her shoe of choice); they read practical and pretty in equal parts; they don’t hinder the task at hand, whether that’s running the country or running to a fashion show.
The Diors aren’t my first successful date with a kitten heel in recent months. During London Fashion Week last September, my jewelled J.W. Anderson kitten heels became famous, appearing on countless fashion sites. Like travelling with a celebrity friend, the shoes were the star attraction; I was merely paid lip service.
Kittens have been quietly returning to the catwalks for a couple of seasons now. Demna Gvasalia, creative director of both Vetements and Balenciaga, seems more enamoured than most. Much of Balenciaga’s autumn/winter ’16/’17 shoe collection had kitten heels attached – from hot-pink ankle boots to glossy white pumps. And at Vetements’s spring/summer ’17 show this summer, the opening look was accompanied by a charcoal satin kittenheel slingback, designed in collaboration with Manolo Blahnik.
Meanwhile, for Gucci’s resort collection, Alessandro Michele rummaged in the label’s archives, returning with his take on the house’s celebrated bamboo kitten heel. For the latest season, he has attached it to a metallic green slingback, punched with gold spikes – this time, the Gucci kitten comes with claws. And for summer, as well as the delicate Diors, Phoebe Philo at Céline has produced butter-yellow kitten-heel mules; at Prada they’re partnered with confections of sequins, beading and elaborate feather plumage. I could go on (they feature at Loewe, Phillip Lim and Saint Laurent) but you get the message – the kitten heel is back. This time, however, it comes with a dollop of self-referential irony. And the styling is far less prim – yes, it’s an elegant shoe, but we’re pairing it with tracksuit pants and boyfriend sweatshirts.
In the late 90s, pavements and catwalks rang to the sound of their delicate clatter. “When I was just starting out in fashion in the mid-90s, a pair of Manolo kitten heels were the ultimate prize,” recalls author and US Vogue writer Plum Sykes. “I wore them nonstop.” Until, that is, a new upstart arrived to crush the kitten – the towering four-inch statement heels, which soon rose to five-inches and beyond – and we had to learn how to walk all over again. Not surprisingly, shoes gratefully crashed back to Earth with fashion trainers and the rise of mannish flats – pool slides and Birkenstocks enjoyed a makeover, and we fell in love with loafers, especially the furry Gucci variety.
Somewhere along the way, feminine elegance got lost in our rush to adopt sportswear and masculinity. It’s no wonder we’re now veering back to more simplistic heel connotations. Living in times of political uncertainty drives us back to the sartorially familiar. In this instance, a whole litter of kittens.