Sports Calendar

6 Prevention is better than cure. If you know you are in for a prolonged and unavoidable period of heel-wearing, take a Nurofen.

7 Avoid uneven and sloping surfaces (cobbles and heels don’t mix). Don’t walk down stairs, use the lift instead.

8 Use a friend as a crutch. Cling on to them for extra stability.

9 The best way to walk in high heels is to do no walking at all. Set aside a taxi slush fund.

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• Extreme Heels

• The alternatives

Highs and lows of wearing killer heels

From Victoria Beckham to Gwyneth Paltrow, super-heels are the latest must-have. But what do they do to your feet?

10 Finally, don’t moan. It spoils the elegance. Heels hurt. You knew that when you put them on. If you are going to suffer for fashion, do it in silence.

How they rate: Extreme heels put to the test

YSL TRIBUTE: 6in

Monika Lis, 23, hotel host My job is to meet and greet everybody who arrives at the Andaz hotel and serve them a drink at check-in. This means I’m on my feet for eight and a half hours without sitting down. When my colleagues saw the YSL Tributes, they couldn’t believe I was actually going to wear them for work. As I usually wear heels on the job — admittedly, my limit is 3in, I’m already 5ft 11in — I was willing to give it a go. At first, I was surprised how comfy they felt, and it wasn’t too hard to balance, as long as I swung my hips when I walked. They looked great, but you could hardly see them under my straight-leg trousers — and none of the hotel guests even noticed them. I think they were wasted at work, not to mention the fact that I felt like the Eiffel Tower, peering down at everyone I greeted. After two hours, I was getting tired and the dreaded “pinch” was settling in. I think I could have gone the whole day, but the damage would have put me out of action for the rest of the week. I’d love a pair of shoes like this to wear out on the town, although my boyfriend — who’s already shorter than me — isn’t so sure. Tribute heels, £415, by Yves Saint Laurent

LOUBOUTIN ALTADAMA: 5½

Charley Brinton, 33, mother of Olive As the mum of a very spirited toddler, heels are usually out of the question, and my daughter seemed to think so, too. When I put on my Louboutin shoes in the morning, Olive looked at me with concern and promptly fetched my regular flats. I wished I was jumping in a cab to Claridge’s for breakfast, but instead I had to walk Olive to her childminder. It usually takes me 10 minutes, but this morning it took an extra 15, and as I tottered along, clinging to the buggy, even the local teens thought I was funny. I work part-time from home, and I’ve never been so happy to sit down at my desk and rest my feet. Come the afternoon, it was time to collect Olive and make our usual trip to the playground. There I quickly discovered that the spongy ground under the swings definitely wasn’t made for heels — but at least it was a soft landing. I looked enviously at the other’s mums’ ballet pumps and Ugg boots, and I definitely got the impression they were looking oddly at me. By the time I was home and making supper, my feet were screaming out for cosy slippers, but I found that, strangely, I didn’t want to take off my heels. It was nice to get some attention for a change, and although the shoes restricted my ability to do day-to-day mummy stuff, they added a bit of rare “yummy” into the mix. Snakeskin Altadama heels, £520, by Christian Louboutin

MARNI PLATFORMS: 5in

Anna Jean Hughes, 24, production assistant As I clambered into my block-heel Marni platforms in the morning, I realised I’d exceeded my ideal height of 5ft 11in, and was wobbling about at a lofty 6ft 2in. Glancing in the mirror, I was stunned to see a pin-legged glamazon, the metallic platforms twinkling on my feet. But any fantasies of catwalk elegance were swiftly quashed as I walked hard into the beam above my door and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Things escalated when my teeter to the Tube caused a group of schoolchildren to encircle me, though I think that had more to do with my bent-kneed impression of a baby giraffe about to topple than the shoes themselves. I love these stilts, but they’re problematic. Though the pain was minimal, they made me lazy; I e-mailed my colleagues all day instead of walking 10 yards to speak to them in person; and lunch was al desko, as the thought of mincing to Itsu filled me with dread. Despite the glorious compliments (“I had no idea you had model legs,” was a personal favourite) and a sneaky bottom pinch in the lift, they did, in fact, tie me to my desk, and all I could think of was my mother’s voice saying: “Long nails and high heels only prove that the wearer does absolutely nothing.” Block heels, £325, by Marni

THE NEW BRAND TO LOVE

Keep your eyes open for Bionda Castana, the brand hotly tipped as the new Zanottis, and in a surprisingly mild heel height. This season’s strappy Kika sandals proved a huge hit with fashion editors, and pre-orders for S/S 2009 have already come in from Alexa Chung, Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson. They hit Browns in December, but if you can’t wait, get on the waiting list at Larizia (020 7722 5999).

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