Go on, give your shoes the platform they deserve
NOT often that fashion makes you stop in the street and stare. The last time I remember gawping at a shop window display was when Kate Moss was actually in the window of Topshop on London’s Oxford Street, back in 2014.
This time what made me do a double take was the window of Russell & Bromley. Not a living model to be seen, just highlights from the shop’s brand new autumn collection, and every single pair of the boots and shoes on display were . . . platforms.
Not just strappy evening sandals but red leather knee boots, jacked-up patent loafers (not much lower than the
ones Naomi Campbell tumbled off in that Vivienne Westwood show back in 1993) and ladylike buckle shoes, only with an inch-deep sole. And this is Russell & Bromley, purveyor of not cheap, builtto-last, grown-up footwear.
So it’s official. We can’t pretend the platforms that have crept into our wardrobes over
the past year or so are a flash in the pan; they’re bedding in and becoming as everyday normal as they were in the early 1970s.
There is a difference in autumn 2022, of course. While you can get the Slade-style stompers, this is a calmer
more grounded platform moment, for those of us who might want to join in but don’t want to look like we’ve been raiding the dressing-up box.
First thing to remember is there is a new heel in town, slightly flared at the base.
This heel signals your platforms are bona fide 2022 and gives them fractionally more edge, a bit like a track sole on a Chelsea boot.
EVeN so, in my view, the best way to make your platforms look modern not retro is to keep them modest in scale and avoid wearing them with a poncho or a silver jumpsuit.
Secondly, you’ll be lucky if you can get away with loafers
or Mary Janes, of which there are plenty; this is a moment for smart elevated open-toe sandals or boots.
The brief history of recent platforms started a few years ago with Prada and a certain pair of black suede chunky sandals which (we noted) had the capacity to balance out wafty dresses and added a new solid elegance to trousers.
After that, the velvet or suede platform sandal became an instant transformer: pop them on with your work suit at night; wear them with crop jeans to look dressier, and with dresses and skirts to look sharper and more contemporary.
And let’s not forget you are raised up out of the dirt, safe on grass, and guaranteed
(so long as the angle from platform to heel is not too
high) to be more comfortable than in any heels you own.
If, in general, people tower over you, that’s another reason to embrace the platform. It’s time to get over the feeling they’re not for Us second time around, and think of them as
the heel you won’t end up carrying at the end of the evening.
The rule with platform sandals is if you’re going high, keep them black or brown and the heel wide not narrow. And Other Stories does a chocolate brown suede pair that are not dissimilar to the Prada originals (£95, stories.com). Zara has endless high-heeled platform sandals (£45.99, zara. com) at 12.5 cm, which is double what I can manage.
The height of Me+em’s crossover-strap platform sandal, which this season comes in shiny black patent or
gold at 10 cm (£295, meandem. com) suits me much better.
However, the fearless among you may want to try some
extra high cross-strap sandals (£69, charleskeith.co.uk), much like the ones Jerry Hall
and Marie Helvin wore stalking the pages of Vogue in the 1970s. Alternatively, there are LK Bennett’s classy Maria leather platform sandals (£149, johnlewis.com).
Boots with a slim platform, particularly knee-high boots, are going to turn spring dresses into autumn wear just like that. Those Russell & Bromley red calf-skin knee boots are sadly not cheap (£475, russellandbromley.co. uk), but Arket does decent platform boots including a nippy three-quarterlength black pair (£190, endource.com).
And if you can’t get your head around all that boot, there’s always the good old ankle variety: Dune does a not-too-high ankle boot in black or dark brown (£150, dunelondon.com). The tan is £45 cheaper, but you’ll get the most wear out of black.