My (Almost) Blister-Free Summer of Ballet Flats
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One day many years ago, I limped home with another stinging blister and texted my friend Sydney: “Is there a single woman’s shoe that was actually designed to touch human skin?”
Are human feet evolutionarily designed to wear shoes? Is it your foot breaking in the shoe or the shoe breaking in your foot? Is there a world in which I don’t pack emergency socks in my work bag? What better time to get to the bottom of it all than the middle of a sweltering hot New York summer?
As a devout pedestrian, one of the most vexing parts of summer’s arrival is figuring out what goes on the feet. Cold weather is easy. My soul clomps around in boots; if I ever strike it rich, I will have one closet dedicated to hundreds of them. Sandals in the city do not speak to me. I’m left with flats, the only silhouette that looks natural with summer ensembles. So I evaluated about ten pairs and found five that earned their place in the weekly rotation and on my shoe rack.
My assessment involved walking at least 10,000 steps in a day with each of these pairs(one cannot trust the shopping recommendations of people who Uber everywhere). There were hot days when I waited in the shade for the crosswalk light to turn, taking a good long look at myself in the window reflection of the Manhattan Footcare on Brooklyn’s Smith Street. I, of course, am not advocating for hitting the pavement in shoes that provide little support. The older I get, the more I understand how incremental behaviors add up and reverberate throughout the body. And yet sometimes, aesthetic preferences and logistical circumstances of a life on the go necessitate skipping around town in a dainty little shoe. (To offset the days I spent testing these flats, I logged a lot of recovery time in my favorite supportive shoes: theAsics Superblast 2, theKarhu Mestari street sneaker, and theNorda 003, a trail shoe made for people like me who haven’t the patience for tying shoelaces.)
Here are my parameters that ensure a shoe can go the distance on a regular basis: very few blisters in the break-in period, zero blisters post-break-in, a necessary snugness that risks no slipping out of the shoes. Not too soft, not too hard, and a feeling of equilibrium: My foot doesn’t careen or slide or pinch in any direction. Extra points if they have the slightest sliver of a leg-lengthening heel. Also, it sounds weird, but visually some shoes really do frame your foot and ankle better than others. It’s all in the fine alchemy of a shoe’s upper.
Pockets stuffed with blister Band-Aids, I set to the streets. Below are my findings, honest blister counts included.
My top picks
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I never got blisters in these. The combination of sheerness and square toe is a little sexy, too.
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The platonic ideal of a ballet flat. Supersoft, goes with everything, zero pain.
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The most supportive of the group. I did get blisters once, but these shoes were great after that.
The Best Ones for Medium-Distance Walks
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Together, we ventured from the Upper East Side through the park, then into Hell’s Kitchen and the heart of Times Square. They look like doll shoes in the best possible way. I like how they make an outfit look a little old-fashioned. I never got a single blister, but they do feel a bit stiff after a long day.
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These cherry-red shoes immediately invited compliments, with a male friend going so far as to note, “And they look comfortable!” I skipped around Nomad and through midtown, later bounding up and down the stairs of Gosh downtown. Another summer evening, we covered the many blocks to and from Don’t Call Me Shirley. These retained a rigidness, and I felt the faintest brush of discomfort as I unclasped them at home, but they delivered me from points A to B to C unscathed.
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With a padded footbed, these are the most supportive of the group here and also the shoes that most resemble the iconic Aqua Sock. There’s a drawstring that allows for fit adjustment. I went up half a size as recommended in the reviews. On our first brief spin, we went to the bookstore to buy Janet Malcolm’sIn the Freud Archivesand encountered no problems. The second walk was a ballsier move: a tremendous errand run across Atlantic Avenue and then through Brooklyn Heights on the first 93-degree day of summer. Blistering hot, indeed: two formed on my heels and I had to Lyft home from my office.
I believe in second chances, and so we journeyed again a week later from Domino Park to Clinton Hill, skin intact. After that, they became a reliable wardrobe fixture for days and outfits that call for a more relaxed sensibility.
The Flats That Go the Distance
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Camper Mesh Casi Myra
Our maiden voyage included a long walk to Long Island Bar, then a jaunt around Cobble Hill, followed by a lengthy walk home. I never blistered, and I even biked hills in these. The heel is more substantial than you’d expect for these wisps of a thing (complimentary). I’d resisted the whole concept of the mesh flat for a long time, but this airy pair converted me: I discovered that they really are the ideal alternative to a summer sandal for a fastidious city dweller. Plus the combination of sheerness and square toe is a little sexy, somehow. An easy evening flat that immediately dresses everything up with nary a functional pitfall.
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Mansur Gavriel has made the Platonic ideal of a ballet flat. Supersoft, goes with everything—this style just has that oomph. They’ve nailed the perfect ratio, somehow, with the slightest suggestion of lift for your legs. I trotted all over the city in these and never felt a thing other than bliss.
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