Stepping right back from the Eighties... the white stiletto! Essex girl's favourite footwear has been spotted on the red carpet

Shoes were once considered marker of an Essex girl



They're a trend many women were relieved to have left behind in the Eighties, when fashion tended to be eye-catching for all the wrong reasons.

But, according to insiders, white stilettos are making a comeback into high-end fashion.

Catwalk models and celebrities have been spotted wearing the shoes once considered the marker of an Essex girl – and associated with other garish Eighties looks such as frosted lipstick, Dynasty-style shoulder pads and huge fluffy hairstyles.

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Sarah Jessica Parker and Gwyneth Paltrow are among stars who have been seen wearing white stilettos on the red carpet recently.

And Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue, endorsed the trend when she posted a picture of a fresh pair of designer stilettos on Twitter, adding: ‘Aren’t they lovely. My pristine Manolo [Blahniks].’

Vogue even ran a feature on the white stilettos in its November issue and described the shoe as a ‘game-changer’.

Sarah Harris, fashion features editor at Vogue, said: ‘In the late Eighties, to a soundtrack of Madonna’s Like A Virgin, white stilettos became synonymous with trashy mini-skirts and the sort of girls one’s mother referred to as “common”, and that was it – it was all over for the spiked heels in blinding, brilliant white. Until now.’



The fashion bible said the shoes were perfect for ‘pre-autumn’ and not the summer.

In her editor’s letter in Vogue’s November issue, Shulman said she would be rocking the trend this autumn.

‘I recall on one of my first autumn trips to New York as editor of Vogue, visiting hairstylist John Barrett in his Bergdorf Goodman salon where he took one look at my white shoes and berated me, citing the old American style mantra: “No white shoes after Labour Day,”’ she said.

‘As I write, though, I’m just about to buy a pair for this autumn.’

But even Manolo Blahnik himself admits not everybody can pull off the style. ‘They look good on the right people,’ he said.

