MAGIC STEPS

A psychologist might argue that there’s a deep-rooted explanation for a child’s love of shoes, intrinsically linked to those first steps of independence and symbolic of the progression from all-fours to Homo Erectus.

For me, it was just a very clever marketing campaign, depicting a witch masquerading as a sales assistant with a glint in her eye, and a little girl transformed into a heroic princess thanks to her shoes.

Like most little girls of the 1980s, I loved my Clarks Magic Steps. That simple Perspex window on the sole which displayed the little key was probably one of the very first things that I absolutely had to have. Whoever dreamt up the concept was a marketeer’s dream; in my head, they truly were shoes fit for a princess, and no other shoes would do.

For women especially, there’s a little part of our brains that never quite lose that childlike reaction to some shoes. These days, I’m more interested in the heel than the sole (I’ve got a four inch minimum) but, whether it’s a key or a stiletto, there’s an element to some shoes that invokes a must-have reaction.

It’s something which is for some reason, more prevalent with shoes than any other product sector. Sure, women may like a dress or a skirt, but it’s rare that such a garment will have the same effect as that perfect pair of shoes. Perhaps those psychologists have a point. But for those of us in the footwear industry, it’s simply the reason that our roles will always be more of a vocation than a simple job.

Christina, editor of FE magazine x