Pointy toes

There is currently a male fashion for shoes – usually high-gloss lace-ups in black or tan – with a very extended toe. Not sharply pointed, as on a 1950s Teddy Boy winkle picker, but more rounded, sometimes even squared off.

I do not find them at all attractive, & if the aim is to make small feet look longer, then they fail; they merely make the proportions look very odd.

This oddity was highlighted for me as I followed a young man down the hill last Friday evening. Snow had just begun to fall again, so leaving a clear sharp print of every step on the pavement. From this perspective it looks as though the wearer has but a single toe (a big one) growing perfectly centred at the front of the foot – not exactly designed for efficient locomotion in someone trying to stand upright on two feet.