Videos of US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris disembarking from planes have gone viral because everyone’s chirping in on her shoes.
It’s usually Converse (which trended on Twitter the first time the internet noticed) or, for a visit to California to asses wildfire damage, some Timberland boots (THOSE TIMBS THO, cried the millennials). Defying the usual conventions of businesswear, Harris tried to wear Chucks into the congressional chamber last year, and was told she had to enter through the cloakroom.
Style, maybe, but there’s a certain practicality needed by women in office, and in offices. Texas senator Wendy Davis wore pink Mizuno running shoes for an 11-hour filibuster of an abortion bill, and Jacinda Ardern’s sported Allbirds in a meeting with the Australian Foreign Minister. It could prompt a wave of women turning from heels to something niftier – try it out and let us know if workplace security diverts you hastily into a cloakroom.