Gen Z is kicking clunky clobbers to the curb.
Lug-soled boots and chunky platforms are now a thing of the past as the sartorial pendulum swings in the opposite direction, with dainty kitten heels now reigning supreme.
“2024 is the year of the kitten heel,” publicist Kendra Hettig declared to Hello Magazine.
From strappy sandals to ankle booties, footwear of all styles is now adorned with a slender, less than 2-inch kitten heel, worn by the likes of Hailey Bieber, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Victoria Beckham and Bella Hadid.
Previously, chunky ankle boots were all the rage with Millennial women, who are now being mocked by Zoomers who love a kitten heel.
The low heel also appeared on recent catwalks for some of the biggest names in the business, such as Prada, Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Jacquemus.
But, despite achieving chic status, kitten heels have long been a contentious shoe.
Once associated with grandmas, the kitten heel is a bit of an “awkward in-between” shoe, Colleen Hill, the senior curator of costume at The Museum at FIT, told Footwear News, adding that they were “often marketed to young women who were not yet ready for higher heels — hence the reference to a cute, young animal.”
They are “strangely betwixt and between,” agreed Elizabeth Semmelhack, the director and senior curator at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum.
“Kitten heels aren’t as comfortable or as surefooted as a flat and they don’t do the work, if you will, of a stiletto in terms of expressions of power or desirability,” she told Footwear News.
Hill, however, argued that they’re better for foot health than a sky-high stiletto and are easier to walk in than a wedge.
“This style can work very well with different looks, especially if their wearer wants to play with proportions — they can pair very well with a cropped trouser, for example,” Hill added.
The heel style dates back to the 1950s, according to the outlet, but didn’t boom in popularity until Audrey Hepburn donned them in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” almost a decade later. In the ’90s, Princess Diana — a style icon for Gen Z fashionistas — sported the low profile stilettos, too.
“The kitten heel has long been associated with demureness, so perhaps that is part of its challenge,” Semmelhack said.
Coincidentally, the word “demure” is a frontrunner for Oxford University Press’ word of the year, appearing on the short list of pop culture terms vying for first place.
Originating from a viral TikTok from creator Jools LeBron, the buzzy mantra “very demure, very mindful” proliferated on social media and inspired more “polished” looks during “demure fall,” ushering in a style antithesis to “brat summer.”
Kitten heels, then, fall in line with the current trend cycle of quiet luxury and stealth wealth — where logo-less garments signal fortune — and, of course, the idea of being “demure,” according The Guardian contributor Jess Cartner-Morley.
She wrote: “Demure is a low-heeled shoe you can dance in rather than walking home carrying the spike heels that give you blisters.”