Are Heels Suddenly on the Rise? Sarah Mower Predicts the Shoe Trend You’ll See at Fashion Week

News flash! In the last two weeks, somewhere on the road between London and Paris, an epiphany has struck me with all the certainty of a Damascene conversion: I’m feeling heels again. This has happened as quickly as the few days’ span between the menswear shows and the couture collections, where I’m still embedded on Vogue.com reporting duties. You will need to take this on trust, in the manner of a Secret Service communiqué from behind the lines, because none of the evidence I’ve picked up is yet allowed to be released in pictures.

But here it is:

1. I went to see the Central Saint Martins MA class of 2019 prepare their graduation shows for London Fashion Week. Regardless of the clothes, three out of four students—bellwethers of British cool—are showing some form of heel.

2. I was invited by Shayne Oliver to his experimental Hood By Air menswear show in Paris on Sunday—a show he was so determined to keep private that you had to agree to have a sticker put over your phone camera upon entrance. What I can report is this: The participants were all striding around at top speed in thigh-high, pointed stiletto-heeled boots.

3. Today I saw the first collection Demna Gvasalia has done for Balenciaga—Pre-Fall 2019, which they’re calling his Collection Zero for the house. No pictures can be released until May, but I am here to pass you the word: pointy thigh-high stiletto boots!

Now, I speak as someone who’s been so grateful and happy to have been fashion-endorsed to wear sneakers, flat sandals, and the occasional mid-heel for the past two years. The whole of fashion has reconfigured around what’s been going on at ground level: Céline-endorsed Vans, fur-filled backless Gucci loafers, all that. It’s been so easy to get around lately. But when a whole cohort of young people comes up saying something different—well, I take notice. Shoes are proportion and attitude-shifters. Sticking my neck out here, but this is my prediction: Come the womenswear shows next month, avant-garde heels are going to be out in force.