Victoria Beckham has been quoted on varied events as being “unable to pay attention in flat sneakers.” That’s not ever one thing she ever mentioned–I do know this as a result of I’ve simply learn spent a grueling two minutes studying a 2023 weblog put up that claims to have parsed via years of press clippings and located zero proof of such a factor being uttered–however statements like these have nonetheless shaped a part of the too-Posh-to-push lore.

That is, in spite of everything, a girl whose dedication to stilettos is so admirable that she was as soon as rumored to have worn a pair of Saint Laurents while doing lengths in a swimming pool on the Baden Baden world cup in 2002. And so, the picture of Victoria Beckham in a pair of comfy sneakers is all the time going to jar on some degree, very like when the designer wore a box-fresh pair of Nike Air Jordans whereas strolling–learn: shuffling on crutches–round Paris yesterday afternoon. (To navigate a metropolitan heart in an orthopedic forged and one singular Alaïa pump was maybe just a little gratuitous.) And whereas this may look like an excessive and sudden departure from the impervious Victoria Beckham look–paying homage to the second she mentioned “I might somewhat die than put on Crocs,” after which proceeded to pose in Croots–the designer has all the time been keen on a trend sneaker.

I’m presently making my manner via Beckham’s seminal trend guide–That Further Half An Inch–during which she lays naked her relationship with clothes. “I’m an actual excessive heels lady,” she says by way of the journalist Hadley Freeman. “And if I do put on flats, they are usually trainers, sandals or flip-flops, and I’m fairly choosy about all of them. Trainers need to be crisp and white Adidas Y3, white Nike Air Max or Bathing Ape, however by no means soiled ones of any selection.” The one shoe model she has “little love for,” she says, is the kitten heel. “They make your toes look larger,” she insists. “There may be nothing flawed with huge toes, however on this case, they are going to look out of proportion together with your physique.”