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Stacy
London:
The High Empress of High-heels Gives the
Dish on What’s Hot in Footwear this Season
London:
The High Empress of High-heels Gives the
Dish on What’s Hot in Footwear this Season
By Alexander Patiño
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If you don’t know Stacy London you should. This crazy off-the-wall-Jewish-
Sicilian-fashion-consultant-extraordinaire has been gracing your TV screen,
telling you what looks hot and what’s a ‘not’ on TLC’s “What Not to Wear” since
2003. London is regularly regarded as one of the absolute go-to gal when it
comes to anything and everything that has to do with the art of wearing high-
heels. It’s only natural that foot comfort giant Dr. Scholl’s would ring London’s
Blackberry to ask her to be their spokesperson for Dr. Scholl’s for Her line of
products.
The author of “Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That’s
Right for Your Body” and host of “Fashionably Late with Stacy London” was
sweet enough to chat with Fashion Q&A about what’s going on this spring
season – whether it’s the hottest trends, the secrets to how to wear high-heels
comfortably, what her major footwear pet-peeves are – we got the full scoop
from the queen of high-heels herself.
FASHION Q&A: I like to think of you as the “High Empress of High-Heels”.
STACY LONDON: Can I put that on my Blackberry Messenger status?
FQA: Please do. That’s all you – be my guest.
LONDON: Cool!
FQA: So, I know you love your high-heels – you’re a high-heel connoisseur.
Do you have a favorite pair?
Sicilian-fashion-consultant-extraordinaire has been gracing your TV screen,
telling you what looks hot and what’s a ‘not’ on TLC’s “What Not to Wear” since
2003. London is regularly regarded as one of the absolute go-to gal when it
comes to anything and everything that has to do with the art of wearing high-
heels. It’s only natural that foot comfort giant Dr. Scholl’s would ring London’s
Blackberry to ask her to be their spokesperson for Dr. Scholl’s for Her line of
products.
The author of “Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That’s
Right for Your Body” and host of “Fashionably Late with Stacy London” was
sweet enough to chat with Fashion Q&A about what’s going on this spring
season – whether it’s the hottest trends, the secrets to how to wear high-heels
comfortably, what her major footwear pet-peeves are – we got the full scoop
from the queen of high-heels herself.
FASHION Q&A: I like to think of you as the “High Empress of High-Heels”.
STACY LONDON: Can I put that on my Blackberry Messenger status?
FQA: Please do. That’s all you – be my guest.
LONDON: Cool!
FQA: So, I know you love your high-heels – you’re a high-heel connoisseur.
Do you have a favorite pair?
LONDON: No. I wish that I could say that I have a favorite pair. That’s like telling a mother of multiple
children to choose her favorite child. It’s absolutely impossible for me to do that. I cap out at 300 pairs of
shoes and every time I go over I have to give some away. But point is: the higher the heel – the closer to
god, in my opinion so I try to go as high as possible.
FQA: High-heels are great. The higher the better, absolutely. But the highest complaint is that they’re
not all that comfortable to begin with. What can women do the curb the pain factor?
LONDON: They can hurt. When you wear high-heels 16 hours a day, you really start to realize that your feet
are not meant to be in high-heels, naturally, all the time. That was the reason that I hooked up with Dr.
Scholl’s because here is a product that I feel so strongly about and that I use as my secret weapon. I do
this because you should never have to choose between style and comfort. You should be as stylish as you
want to be, but you have to make shoes work the way you want them to and the best way to do that is to use
a Dr. Scholl’s for Her Insole, whether it’s one for a high-heel or an open-toed shoe. My thing is that if you’re
wearing high-heels and you look miserable, you won’t look stylish. You have to look comfortable in your
heels. If you can’t pull off the heel then you’re going to need help with making them comfortable for you.
children to choose her favorite child. It’s absolutely impossible for me to do that. I cap out at 300 pairs of
shoes and every time I go over I have to give some away. But point is: the higher the heel – the closer to
god, in my opinion so I try to go as high as possible.
FQA: High-heels are great. The higher the better, absolutely. But the highest complaint is that they’re
not all that comfortable to begin with. What can women do the curb the pain factor?
LONDON: They can hurt. When you wear high-heels 16 hours a day, you really start to realize that your feet
are not meant to be in high-heels, naturally, all the time. That was the reason that I hooked up with Dr.
Scholl’s because here is a product that I feel so strongly about and that I use as my secret weapon. I do
this because you should never have to choose between style and comfort. You should be as stylish as you
want to be, but you have to make shoes work the way you want them to and the best way to do that is to use
a Dr. Scholl’s for Her Insole, whether it’s one for a high-heel or an open-toed shoe. My thing is that if you’re
wearing high-heels and you look miserable, you won’t look stylish. You have to look comfortable in your
heels. If you can’t pull off the heel then you’re going to need help with making them comfortable for you.
FQA: Are designer shoes the only way to go or are there affordable routes to get that fierce footwear look?
LONDON: I have to be honest with you. I used to say, you can wear the cheapest clothes known to mankind, but as
long as you have an expensive coat, bag and shoe then you’re good. I have had to revise my own rule. In the past
few years there have been so many affordable variations on runway looks that I feel you can pretty much get all the
hot, quick trends at any price point. And you can do searches for shoes. That’s why I love websites like Zappos.
com or Piperlime.com that sell more than one shoe label because you can search for a caged platform shoe or a
wedge and get pages worth of shoes.
FQA: Do you have any shoe faux pas that drive you up the wall?
LONDON: I do worry about people that wear shoes that are too high for them. When little girls who are very petite
and they’re wearing super high-heels and it looks like they can’t walk? – that to me doesn’t look stylish. If they
were standing still and they were mannequins, maybe the look would seem great, but you do need to wear heels
that you can walk in. And if they’re not proportional to your leg length or with your clothing, it will look weird. You
need to make sure that you can bend your knees comfortably with the heels you’re wearing because you will look
like you’re on stilts or that you stole your mother’s shoes.
FQA: Got it. Now Stacy –
LONDON: Oh and I hate a white athletic sneaker - just a full-on white leather athletic sneaker with any kind of real
clothing, I’ll just say that. Unless you’re doing aerobics, then stay out of them.
LONDON: I have to be honest with you. I used to say, you can wear the cheapest clothes known to mankind, but as
long as you have an expensive coat, bag and shoe then you’re good. I have had to revise my own rule. In the past
few years there have been so many affordable variations on runway looks that I feel you can pretty much get all the
hot, quick trends at any price point. And you can do searches for shoes. That’s why I love websites like Zappos.
com or Piperlime.com that sell more than one shoe label because you can search for a caged platform shoe or a
wedge and get pages worth of shoes.
FQA: Do you have any shoe faux pas that drive you up the wall?
LONDON: I do worry about people that wear shoes that are too high for them. When little girls who are very petite
and they’re wearing super high-heels and it looks like they can’t walk? – that to me doesn’t look stylish. If they
were standing still and they were mannequins, maybe the look would seem great, but you do need to wear heels
that you can walk in. And if they’re not proportional to your leg length or with your clothing, it will look weird. You
need to make sure that you can bend your knees comfortably with the heels you’re wearing because you will look
like you’re on stilts or that you stole your mother’s shoes.
FQA: Got it. Now Stacy –
LONDON: Oh and I hate a white athletic sneaker - just a full-on white leather athletic sneaker with any kind of real
clothing, I’ll just say that. Unless you’re doing aerobics, then stay out of them.
FQA: So the Dr. Scholl’s for Her insole can be used for any kind of shoe – including flats?
| "The higher the heel – the closer to god, in my opinion so I try to go as high as possible," says London. |
London pictured with co-stylist Clinton Kelly on TLC's "What Not to Wear"
FQA: What footwear trends have you picked up on this spring season?
LONDON: The caged platform rules. When I say caged platform I mean straps or fabric that cover
the entire top of the foot as well as being a high-heel platform. The great thing about platforms is
that they look so scary, but they’re so much more comfortable than stilettos because the pitch of
your shoe is not that high. The platform under the ball of your foot is about an inch or an inch and a
half and heel is four inches then you’re actually only wearing a shoe that is three inches high.
FQA: One of the trends we’ve noticed is this very extravagant looking, experimental kind of
shoe ala Alexander McQueen. Seeing as how the shoe alone is such an extravagant statement,
what would you say is the best way to pull that kind of look off?
LONDON: When you do that kind of extravagant, exaggerated shoe, you have to be careful with what
you do with the rest of your outfit. Unless you’re Lady Gaga, and then more is just more, but in
general you want to do something simple to go with it. What I find about these shoes is that you
want to make sure that you are wearing something that balances these shoes, because they can
get very very heavy. You want to stay with something simple, yet architectural and bold enough to
carry that shoe.
LONDON: The caged platform rules. When I say caged platform I mean straps or fabric that cover
the entire top of the foot as well as being a high-heel platform. The great thing about platforms is
that they look so scary, but they’re so much more comfortable than stilettos because the pitch of
your shoe is not that high. The platform under the ball of your foot is about an inch or an inch and a
half and heel is four inches then you’re actually only wearing a shoe that is three inches high.
FQA: One of the trends we’ve noticed is this very extravagant looking, experimental kind of
shoe ala Alexander McQueen. Seeing as how the shoe alone is such an extravagant statement,
what would you say is the best way to pull that kind of look off?
LONDON: When you do that kind of extravagant, exaggerated shoe, you have to be careful with what
you do with the rest of your outfit. Unless you’re Lady Gaga, and then more is just more, but in
general you want to do something simple to go with it. What I find about these shoes is that you
want to make sure that you are wearing something that balances these shoes, because they can
get very very heavy. You want to stay with something simple, yet architectural and bold enough to
carry that shoe.
LONDON: They make the insole so that you can put them into any shoe and thin enough so that you won’t even see them in a ballet flat. Even when you wear flats, women that have arches
that are medium to high arches can feel very uncomfortable in flats over a few hours because their arches start to fall. With the insole you’re literally supporting and comforting your arch.
that are medium to high arches can feel very uncomfortable in flats over a few hours because their arches start to fall. With the insole you’re literally supporting and comforting your arch.
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