Cinderella shoes have always been fashion’s ultimate fantasy footwear: part fairytale, part transformation symbol, and now, a major trend. Rachel Hochhauser, the New York Times best-selling author of Lady Tremaine, has spent years exploring the cultural power of Cinderella’s story, and she has a few thoughts on why the iconic shoes still captivate us.
“An unexpected side effect of publishing my debut novel—Lady Tremaine, a retelling of Cinderella from the so-called ‘evil’ stepmother’s perspective—is that not a week goes by without someone sending me a version of the Cinderella shoe,” Hochhauser says. “Glass heels, crystal mules, iridescent strappy sandals… My DMs have become a clearinghouse for the most enchanting footwear on the internet. After months of joyful perusal, I’ve made an executive decision: This is Cinderella toe summer, by which I mean it’s time to embrace shoes that put your pedicure on full display. Making you feel like a princess is a nice side effect.
“The glass slipper is fashion’s original It shoe, an artifact from a fairytale that exists across cultures and centuries built entirely around the idea of transformation. I didn’t put the iconic crystal heels in my novel (the whole point of the book is that our fairytales are overdue for an update), but I’m not above the myth of a shoe that changes your life. Just ask me about my yearslong search for the holy-grail perfect boot—a conversation for another day.
“Glass slippers, though? We have options. I have only one amendment to the Cinderella-shoe canon: We should get to keep both shoes and buy them for ourselves.”
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