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When I worked on glossy magazines in the early 2000s, I often used to take a second pair of higher, more painful shoes to work with me to change into for events and important meetings. It seems laughable now. These days, accustomed as our feet and joints have become to the working-from-home ease of Birkenstock Bostons or the walking-on-clouds sensation of Hoka trainers, comfort is something on which we are less willing to compromise, even on days when we need to smarten up.
Luckily, there are now plenty of elegant shoe brands responding to a desire for comfort and style. “A quietly confident, stylish life comes from being comfortable and at ease with yourself and your surroundings,” says Jane Frances, the founder of British brand Dear Frances. Back in 2016 Frances saw a space in which to modernise Italian craftsmanship, uniting “a subtle nod to the unexpected” with traditional leather shoemaking techniques.
Dear Frances’s summer ’25 collection, out now, features only flat shoes. For her own working life, Frances swaps between the popular Balla Mesh flats (£370) and the new square-toed Drew loafer (£470). But I can vouch for the day-long durability of its heeled ankle boot style, the Harlie (£590), with its round toe and 5cm cylindrical block heel. Comfort doesn’t mean you have to lose height, and the soft nappa leather makes them lighter than other boots that can feel like lead weights by the end of the day. With more than 100 global stockists, and a series of pop-ups planned at Harrods and Selfridges this month, it’s no wonder the brand has been posting year-on-year growth of 50 per cent for the past five years – and with nary a vertiginous heel in sight.
Le Monde Béryl is another brand that prides itself on wearability. The London-based, Veneto-made footwear brand was launched in 2016 by Lily Atherton Hanbury and Katya Shyfrin, both of whom worked in the art world and found themselves struggling to stand on hard gallery floors for long periods of time. One evening during the Venice Biennale, knowing she was unable to stand a minute more, Atherton Hanbury grabbed a pair of Venetian slippers from a stall for a black-tie event. “The penny dropped,” she says.
Starting with their own elevated takes on that Venetian slipper, the brand, which sells via its website and on Net-a-Porter, Selfridges and Mytheresa, has since widened its range to encompass ballet shoes and Mary Janes, as well as trainers and hiking boots. Last season, one of its most popular styles was the flat Luna slipper, sales of which increased by 170 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023. Sales of the flat Soft Venetian Slipper were also up 67 per cent compared to the previous year. Now the brand has come full circle, moving into “wearable” heels, including the Babouche kitten heel at 40mm. “It’s really important not to have your life curtailed by discomfort,” says Shyfrin. “The whole purpose of shoes is to enhance what you’re doing and help you go further.”
Many, including HTSI’s style director Isabelle Kountoure, are fans of the Berlin-based brand Aeyde, especially its Leandra style (£420). “I have had various boots of theirs and I love all of their fits,” she says. “I’ve never had one single blister – ever.” Meanwhile, designer Faye Toogood favours the Dutch company Sine & Cosine, which has made a name for itself with its distinctive take on traditional clogs (from €420).
Saskia Baron, assistant general manager at the London restaurant Quo Vadis, can be on her feet for 12 hours a day, but still needs to look “fairly formal” for her public-facing, front-of-house role. “You can get a lot of trouble within the rest of your body if your footwear isn’t supportive,” she says. “I want to make it through this job without getting a bad back!” She finds a sturdy loafer does the job and currently wears the chunky Amy style by the French brand Sézane (£185).
Other favourites include the Spanish brand Hereu, Turkey’s Manu Atelier, and US makers Loeffler Randall and Rothy’s (knitted from recycled plastic bottles and washable – look out for styles with the trademarked “In Love” insole), as well as British favourites Penelope Chilvers and Grenson. Note, too, a newly released capsule collection of three clean-lined shoes – a pump, a wedge and a mule – from Esther Leonard, a New Zealand-born designer with a distinctive contemporary aesthetic. “I have a strong appreciation for sneakers but I believe there remains a demand for refined, high-quality leather shoes that pull an outfit together,” says Leonard, whose shoes are made in Portugal.
Recent discoveries I’ve made include the proudly Lancastrian Lanx, which specialises in rugged handmade boots, brogues and boat shoes for men and women; the handmade-in-Brazil Mafalda, a brand that turns the sandal into something substantial enough to wear to the office; and newcomer Macian. Based in Northamptonshire, the heart of English shoemaking, Macian was founded by Silvia Olsece, an Italian who lives in Switzerland and has long been obsessed with classic British shoes. Feminised takes on Oxfords, Derbys, Chelsea boots and monk straps in gleaming polished leather might summon up the elegant sternness of a Miss Jean Brodie, but Olsece had contemporary city workers more in mind. “I thought there was a need for stylish shoes that you can go to a meeting in, but can also actually walk around in,” she says. Hard relate.
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