The Guardian cheered: “This season, all that was needed to conjure up a fresh vision of style was the trainers, which transformed the way the models carried themselves.”

Comfort for all! A small step forward for footwear, a huge step forward for womankind!

Oh, how we eat our words.

Four and a half years later, the fashion sneaker phenomenon has reached the point of absurdity. As marketing executives the style world over have become convinced that every single brand has to have a sneaker in its footwear arsenal, and the pressure is on to up the ante with each new design — to make it crazier! and bigger! and artier! (and, sometimes, uglier) — the form has begun to flirt with being a parody of itself.