A Powerful Pair of Slingback Heels Can Change Everything

I become a sharper version of myself when I strap on my best slingback heels—a patent leather Prada pair that I stalked on The RealReal like a lioness hunting a gazelle at lunchtime. I'm powerful and in charge. I understand what a Roth IRA is and can navigate an Excel spreadsheet without anxiety. In those strappy kitten heels, I’m not intimated by anything—I’m ready to conquer life with my head held high and feet one-and-a-half inches off the ground.

I’m not alone in feeling like the ankle-strapped shoe makes me into a woman who means business. Just last week, I walked into the Marie Claire office and saw fashion editor Lauren Tappan and beauty editor Samantha Holender click-clacking out of a conference room, both wearing slingback heels.

"There's something about a dainty ankle strap and a razor-thin heel that conveys a strong message of sophistication," Tappan tells me over Slack. Similarly, Holender says that her Manolo Blahnik slingbacks make her feel formidable: "I'm a staggering five-foot-two, but even those pointy-toed kitten heels make my legs look longer and my outfit more put-together and professional."

TikTok will tell you something similar to what my coworkers and I say. On the platform, fashion creators share hacks so the shoes won't slip off in the workplace and rave about their favorite office siren slingbacks from Zara, Franco Sarto, and Nine West. The app's more luxury-minded users cite the slingbacks seen on fall's runways—Carolina Herrera's modest "ladies who lunch" kitten heels, Altuzarra's conical leather pumps, and Gucci's sultry and strapped six-inch platform loafers, to name just a few of the silhouettes leading the fall 2024 shoe trends.

But whether they’re ranking high as a fall 2024 trend or getting airtime on social media, slingback heels will forever be a favorite because of what they represent. They’re a shoe that signals to the world that you have your shit together, whether or not that's true to you or a put-on persona. You're confident and have complete trust in that one dainty little strap to keep your shoe from sliding off.

And whether they’re a luxury $1,000 splurge or an easy $100 impulse buy, the silhouette exudes a ladylike elegance that calls back to the first-ever fashion icons who endorsed the style—like Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, and Jackie Kennedy, all mod-era muses who adored sleek slingbacks.

There’s also a subtle sex appeal to a pair of slingbacks. They were, after all, initially designed in the 1940s so pin-up girls could play peep-show with their ankles. Think also of a windswept Marilyn Monroe in the film The Seven Year Itch, wearing a white dress and strappy pair of Ferragamo slingbacks on top of that treacherous subway grate.

Or, more recently, Jennifer Lopez; in an Instagram carousel posted during Lopez’s divorce era from Ben Affleck, the star posed in a pastel pink slip dress and Gucci’s red-hot $1,500 Signora slingbacks. Princess Diana has her revenge dress, but JLo proposes a sultry pair of revenge heels instead.

Ultimately, what separates a slingback heel from the other items of its power-dressing ilk is its inherent femininity. Unlike a pantsuit or strong-shouldered blazer that pulls influence from menswear, the strapped heel was designed solely for women and, as a result, has become a strong symbol of womanhood. There’s a reason little girls play dress up in their mom’s makeup and several-sizes-too-big slingback heels.

Who will you be when you step into your best slingback heels? Maybe you’re a Marilyn or a JLo. Or maybe you’re you, only with a bit more power in your stride and pep in your step.

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