Power Flats Challenge High Heels

The go-to shoe for female executives has long been the power heel. Now the flat is making a play for power.

Fashion runways lately have been full of chic flat shoes for women. Menswear-inspired Oxfords were all over the fall/winter collections. Pointy-toe flat pumps, sandals and smoking slippers – masculine shoes with a thin sole and a loafer-like tongue – followed for next spring. Many of them countered flats’ dowdy image with fashion-statement details such as studs and a huge variety of materials, from snakeskin and tweed to patent leather.

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