As someone who gets her cardio from walking around shopping centres in a brisk fashion and running up escalators the wrong way because I saw an item for a client as I got half way down, I know just how important a great pair of flats is and what an impact they can have on an outfit. One of the common things I hear clients say when trying on a new item is ‘I’ll have to wear heels with this.’

I once worked in a shoe store and I would constantly get men and women coming in saying ‘I purchased these shoes x months ago, and they’re already falling apart.’ My inner effortless bitch wanted to say ‘WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO YOUR FABULOUS QUALITY SHOES!’ but my customer service voice had to take the shoes, refund them and blow them kisses as they left. Ugh.

A phrase I never hear women or men say when purchasing shoes are ‘only skinny people can wear that’ or ‘you’ve got to be a model to wear shoes like those.’ As a Stylist, I’m hearing these phrases come out of private clients mouths regularly when referring to clothing, but never when referring to shoes.

With the current selection of shoes in stores being mainly pointed and narrow toe – what do the women with wider feet or bunions have to choose from? To the untrained eye, not much! But as a Stylist, I come up with this issue with clients often.

Sometimes I feel like I have a hobble radar inbuilt that beeps every time I see a woman wearing the wrong shoes.