When I packed up my job as a journalist last September, I also packed up the formal wear that comes with working in a newsroom. No more stiff-collared shirts, no more pinafore dresses, no more tailored trousers, no more smart shoes. I now work in the creative book world and I go to work happily in jeans and Converse.
Every work place necessitates its own dress code. I thought of this last week when in London, Nicola Thorp, 27, arrived on her first day as a temporary receptionist at a company and was fired for wearing flat shoes, and for refusing to go out and buy a pair of “2in to 4in heel”.
She has since launched a petition calling for the law to be changed so companies can no longer force women to wear high heels to work, and has already collected over 100,000 signatures – which means that she can take it to Parliament.
As we were watching the news item on Euronews, the Significant Other said: “Oh I bet you’re so going to sign this petition.” To my dismay, I couldn’t sign it because it was only open to UK residents.
She was laughed at when she said the demand was discriminatory. Thorp asked for a reason as to why wearing flats would impair her to do my job but was given none. “I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just won’t be able to do that in heels,” she told BBC. “I think dress codes should reflect society and nowadays women can be smart and wear flat shoes.”
Not if you’re in Malta, Nicola. Here I think most women feel that they have to wear five-inch heels at the very least to be smart.
It think this stems from our height and our sense of ‘tkun pulita’. My grandmother, who is only five feet tall, wore heels all the time up to a couple of years ago and she still often berates me: “Iva ilbes naqra takkuna.”
But from my grandmother’s generation to this one, there has been a huge shift in heel size. The inches just keep stretching and they don’t do anything to enhance elegance and the way the clothes hang on the body. Instead of sashaying about like models Maltese girls on seven-inch heels strut like giraffes: their neck out first, their knees awkwardly bent and their bums quivering haphazardly. It’s worse when it’s nippy and they cross their arms, hands under armpits to keep warm, while walking on heels.
I just think heels are an impractical fashion item. On the rare occasions when I’ve worn heels, I end up excusing myself to go to the loo, where I put down the lid and sit for long stretches of rest
Go to Paceville and observe the women (children really) on heels. They are always on the lookout for a seat or support to lean against. They hang off each other’s arms and demand their friends walk at a snail’s pace – they certainly cannot run.
My newsroom colleagues who wore heels would leave before us ‘flatters’ if we’d be going somewhere for lunch – and we’d arrive at approximately the same time.
It’s strange this obsession of ours with heels, especially since Maltese men are not exactly Danes, so it’s not like we need to ladder up otherwise we won’t be able to hear what they’re saying.
In fact, I did a straw poll among my men friends, asking what they thought of heels.
“I don’t really notice them, unless they look like they belong to a stripper's wardrobe,” shrugged one.
“You don’t need heels to look smart and professional. Heels make a woman look elegant and gorgeous, but the way I see it, that’s irrelevant at work,” said another.
“I think the right combination of a skirt and heels can make hearts beat,” said yet another.
Hmpf. I just think heels are an impractical fashion item. On the rare occasions when I’ve worn heels, I end up excusing myself to go to the loo, where I put down the lid and sit for long stretches of rest. In fact, taking off high-heeled shoes is akin to finding a toilet when you’ve been holding your pee for a whole day. The relief, the joy is equal.
Plus when I’m wearing heels, my face is usually pinched: all I am thinking of is how much my feet hurt but then again, I am not one who enjoys suffering for fashion. And maybe no one should. David Agus’s A Short Guide to a Long Life mentions avoiding heels as one of the 12 key ways to ward off premature death. Stilettos “cause unnecessary inflammation… linked to some of our most terrible degenerative diseases today, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer”.
A study on high-heel usage in the British Medical Journal shows that heels force women to walk with their chest and bottoms thrust out, dragging hips out of alignment with spines and sending the shock impact of every stride straight into knee joints.
Actually, come to think of it, heels are not even hot at the moment: actress Julia Roberts went barefoot on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last week in protest for turning away women from the event for not wearing high heels. Victoria Beckham is increasingly spotted wearing trainers.
I don’t want to come across as anti-heel, but really there is a whole world of lovely heel-less shoes out there. As a friend put it: “You can get away with anything if you’re wearing the right shoes for the right occasion.”
krischetcuti@gmail.com
Twitter: @KrisChetcuti