Christian Louboutin ‘Beloved’ Laser-Cut Wiggle Heel Pumps, £711
So, it looks like the distinctive ‘wiggle heel’ which Christian Louboutin has been using for the past season or two is going to be sticking around a little bit longer.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about that, to be honest. On the one hand, I love looking at shoes with this heel shape: it’s just so different from everything else around at the moment, and so stylised that it really is a work of art. With that said, I might appreciate the style of these, but I know I wouldn’t buy them – they’re just way too expensive for a shoe that I’d always view as something of a novelty. When it comes to just looking at them, the wiggle heel is streets ahead in terms of sheer impact, but when it comes to actually wearing them, the standard stiletto will always be the winner for me – I know if I owned these shoes, I’d constantly find myself wishing the heel was straight!
That’s just me, though, and presumably this design has been popular enough for Louboutin to decide to continue making it. This time it’s attached to a shoe called ‘Beloved’, which comes in your choice of black or white patent leather. I love the laser-cut upper on these – it’s just so pretty and unusual, and while the white version seems very summery to me, the black will be perfect for autumn and winter. (And also spring and NEXT summer, if you so wish…)
These have a 4.8″ squiggle heel, a sharply pointed toe, and a half-d’orsay upper – so a very standard, closed-toe pump, basically, except for that squiggle of a heel! Unusual though it is, however, I don’t think the heel will make these shoes any more difficult to style: you can’t go too far wrong with a pair of black pumps, after all!
These shoes would make me nervous to wear…I think I would look down and see the squiggly heel and feel like they were going to collapse any second! I know logically they are as sturdy as a straight heel but they look hazardous!
I tend to hold the same opinion and perspective of deficiency when it comes to the squiggly heels, plus the vertical shaft of the heels is mounted too close to the back of the shoe which is another blackboard scrape in my book. The patent material, laser cutting, and pointed toes would have sold me the shoes had the other noted irritations been left in the drafting room.
I don’t like the wiggle heel at all, but the laser cut upper is beautiful.