Ideal shoes for high heeled haters

Top left to right 
1. Topshop - Naive cross through sandals - tan - £45

2. Kurt Geiger - Block heel sandals - black - £95

3. Asos - Humour heeled sandals - £40

Bottom left to right 

4. Missguided - Genna flatform sandals - Nude and black - £27.99

5. Bank - Ribbon scrappy mega platform - white - £30

6. Asos - Harrow heeled sandals - Off white or Aqua - £30

If you, like me, dread the day you have to go to an elegant celebration because you know this means hours of agonising feet pain from the high heeled shoes that women are expected to wear these days, well good news is here, the past year or so mid heels have come into fashion, and they don't all look like a 12 year olds first pair of kitten heels.

It is a cliche that all women have to wear high heeled shoes to look good with a dress. I admit we do look pretty darn hot in heels, but for some, wearing heels is pretty impossible, and I am one of those girls. All of my life I have lusted after every pair of heels thinking that one day I may be able to finally walk in them longer than ten minutes. I don't know if it's due to the fact that I may have weak ankles, weak foot muscles, or maybe a weird foot structure, but all I know is that after ten minutes the balls of my feet are in unbearable pain. It feels like I have suddenly acquired huge bruises on the bottom of my feet. I have tried all sorts to help: wearing foot cushions, walking around the house on tip-toes, and even trying to 'wear in' the shoes whilst doing the dishes.

Because of this annoying pain I would dread nights out, parties, and pretty much all celebrations that required me to dress up. I remember my sixth form ball where I wore stilettos just for the sit down meal and then they were kicked off as soon as I hit the dance floor. When it came to friends birthday parties, I found myself being the only girl wearing sandals or ballerina shoes. But luckily when it came to university nights out my friends were also like me, so I didn't mind so much wearing some flats. Though I couldn't help being jealous of seeing all the other girls in the club tottering around as if they were walking on pillows. Honestly how do you girls manage it?

When it came to my graduation last year however, I just knew I couldn't wear flats to this occasion. This was my big day and I really wanted to walk across that stage in high heels proudly. In reality, that was never going to happen. So instead I went on a search to look for some mid heels that could create an illusion that they were higher than what they actually were.

Luckily, I came across this one pair of shoes from Topshop that have become my saviour. Without them I do not know what I would have worn to graduation, nor what I would have worn to many occasions since. This pair of shoes do look chunky, but the platforms on them create an illusion that they're much higher than they are. Exactly what I wanted! And what's even better is the fact that my feet did not ache one bit, which means I not only looked and felt great for all the graduation photos, but I also managed to walk across the stage to accept my degree without looking like I was walking on a path of fire.

I think I got them for around £45 and although they are no longer sold on Topshop's website, I have included a similar pair on my recommended list up above. I also decided to include some other shoes that I believe would look more comfortable to wear than high heels whilst also managing to look hot enough to wear during nights out or to celebrate special occasions. Although they do still have a heel, they are actually much more comfortable than 5 inch high heels.

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