For someone who can own over forty pairs of shoes at any one time and mainly high
heels, I do have a say on what is For-the-Win. For a long time, I wore only high-heeled shoes and even my slippers will be elevated with platforms of no less than two inches. All well until recent months, a chronic pain-dull ache started to develop at my lower back and knees when I am on my heels and even after I take them off my feet. I was in distress for a little while until my eyes are opened to a whole new world of dolly pumps! I started shopping for ballet pumps-those plain designed ones with different colors-white, black, silver, gold, red, blue, the patterned ones with zebra-prints, checkered and polka dots. Ballet pumps are good for us who are melting down at most times in our tropical climate all year round.

Some research for knowledge’s sake. The essence of the ballet flat has existed since at least the 16th century, in which men wore a similar shoe, then known as pompes. In medieval times ballet flats were popular with both men and women. They only came out of fashion in the 17th and 18th centuries when the high-heeled shoes came into fashion after Catherine de’ Medici requested that her cobbler add two inches to her wedding shoes. However, heels went out of fashion quickly after Marie Antoinette walked to the guillotine (a device noted for long being the main method of execution in France), in a pair of heels. Shortly after, there was a rise of functional shoes like, sandals, boots, and flat shoes in the 19th century. Ballet flats took off again when Audrey Hepburn wore them with skinny jeans in Funny Face in 1957. More recently, variations of ballet flats have returned as a current fashion trend, often referred to as ballet pumps or ballet sneakers and designed for outdoor wear, using a variety of fabrics and usually with a rubber sole. Ballet flats are popular with girls and women of all ages. They are also a great alternative to heels, and they are seen with many tweens and teens at school dances and proms instead of heels. They are often worn by females of almost all ages as they are more convenient and less formal than high heels but dressier than sneakers.