Clare Finney on the rise and rise of the ballet flat, and the arrival of Pretty Ballerinas
They don’t look like the sort of shoes that would inspire controversy. In fact they almost seem designed to avoid it. Yet if there’s one emotion the soft, sweet ballet pumps being sold in St Martins Courtyard have never inspired, it’s indifference.
For one thing they’re flat, a concession to comfort that seemed almost blasphemous in the days of yore. Even now, shoe height has the power to spark controversy: witness the unions’ insistence that high heels be banned in the workplace, or the furore sparked by a former MP’s rant against flats.
Yet the gradual rise of the pump can actually be traced as far back as revolutionary French, when the Napoleonic Code of 1803 banned women from wearing high heels due to their connotations of aristocracy and pretension, which hadn’t been helped by Marie Antoinette wearing a pair to her execution. Only when the Victorians started fetishising woman’s ankles did heels become fashionable once more.
Since then their popularity has fluctuated routinely, from an all time low in the Depression years to the power heels of the eighties. Yet while stilettos and wedges come, go and come again, the popularity of the pump has been steadily rising.
Much of this can be put down to the fact that they’re comfortable – a luxury which, once tasted, is difficult for any woman to forswear. In a world where suffering in the name of style is almost a given, properties like beauty and comfort have often been mutually exclusive. Ballet pumps, with their soft shape and material, cute bows and myriad colours, offer both. With the image of Audrey Hepburn prancing in pumps on the sitcom Funny Face never far from fashion’s mind, all it took was a shot of Princess Di in a pair from French Sole and their popularity was kicked into the stratosphere.
Fashion hasn’t looked back, and Pretty Ballerinas are hot on their heels. Its St Martin’s Courtyard boutique opened this spring – the latest shoestring in a bow that started as a small family store in Manorca in 1918, and now has a handful of stores worldwide. The brand produces over 300,000 pairs a year (70 per cent of which are exported) and has clad some of the finest feet in fashion.
Kate Moss, Elle Macpherson and Kylie are just a few of the stars to take a walk in their shoes – yet while Pretty Ballerinas may be beloved by the famous, there’s no question of the company’s feet leaving the ground. It’s still at heart a family business – albeit an enormous one. The materials are ethically sourced and the products are all still hand-made on Manorca by families who have made shoes for generations.
“They don’t really focus on influences and inspirations for the different collections” confirms Carly, their Covent Garden representative, “but rather focus on a particular season’s colour palettes and trends.” In short they are classics that are comfortable to boot and with some 1,200 different styles and more colours than a dreamcoat, the chances of you finding a pair to suit you are dangerously high – whatever your feelings about heels.
Tags: Ballet Pumps, fashion history, flat shoes, Pretty Ballerinas, St Martins Courtyard