The Trouble With Flats

 

Remember when I said I’d never wear flats, like, EVER, EVER again? EVER?

You all got that I was just kidding myself, didn’t you?

The the thing is, I DO actually like flats, and this year I’ve been wearing them a lot more often than I used to. Not only are they a lot more practical than heels for the various “outdoorsy” things I’ve been getting up to this summer, I find them a lot more casual, too. Let’s face it: even I would feel just a little bit over-dressed wandering along a beach, or jumping on and off boats in a prom-style dress and stilettos. Put that same dress with a pair of flats, and maybe a denim jacket over the top (or, just off the top off my head, maybe a Hell Bunny cardigan? For instance?), and although the dress itself still looks the same, you don’t get nearly as many “why are you all dressed up?” questions. That HAS to be a good thing, right?

While I’m fully on board with the flats-with-dresses however, I absolutely HATE flats with trousers/jeans. (On ME, I hasten to add. YOU look great in flats, seriously. Have you been working out? Because your hair looks amazing!) It wasn’t until I started taking outfit photos, actually, that I realised just how MUCH I hate the look of flats with jeans on myself. In fact, I didn’t realise a lot of things about myself until I started taking outfit photos, now I come to think of it. As strange as it might sound, up until then, I hadn’t really thought much about my body type. I mean, I knew I was a bit shorter than average, and bit more flat-chested than average, too. Anytime people started taking about how they were an “apple” or a “pear”, or whatever, though, my eyes would glaze over, and I’d also start feeling a bit peckish, like I could really quite fancy an apple or a pear around about now, you know?

While I’ve never really been into the whole “what fruit are you,” thing, however,  I  do know I have a long torso and short legs. For most of my life, I’d simply described myself as “short”. Outfit blogging helped me realise there’s more than one way to be short, and MY way makes it hard for me to wear certain things without exaggerating the stumpiness of my legs.

One of those things is flats. Flats don’t MAKE my legs look short: my legs ARE short. Flats simply fail to disguise this fact, the way my BFFs, heels, do. Throughout my life, I’ve always clung rigidly to my heels, come hell or really steep hills, knowing they made me look better, but not really knowing WHY. Now I know it’s because they bring some balance to the force my figure: they make my legs look a bit longer, which makes them look more in proportion to my torso, which makes my clothes look better. (And I should say here that the aim isn’t to look TALLER, necessarily: just to look in proportion…)

But you can’t wear them all the time, can you? Sometimes you have to walk the dog. Sometimes you have to navigate steep, cobbled hills. Sometimes you just fancy a bit of a change. And when those times come, I’ve started to reply on my new secret-weapon in the fight against stump: the high-waisted skirt. Or even trousers, if I’m feeling particularly daring. High waists don’t make everything better, obviously, but they do, at least make enough of a difference to make flats a possibility again. With heels, this outfit would’ve been a bit much for a random weekday, but with flats it felt much more casual, but still very ME.

Oh, and those shoes no longer give me blisters, now that  there’s no possibility of them ruining my entire day with them: it figures…

NOW AND THEN:

NOW: ♥  ASOS skirt ♥ H&M top and jacket ♥  Kate Spade bag* ♥NEXT flats

THEN:

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Jacket – July 2014

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Skirt – September 2013

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