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F E AT U R E<br />
Feel good heels<br />
Lichfield shoe designer Shaherazad Umbreen has the answer to every girl’s shoe<br />
dilemma; gorgeous heels which are actually comfortable to wear. And her business is<br />
helping women worldwide on a much more in-depth level. Amy Norbury discovers more<br />
It’s a problem faced by women the world over; the<br />
eternal struggle between your favourite pair of heels<br />
- you know, the ones which elongate your legs with<br />
their super slender and precariously high heel and<br />
make you feel like a million dollars despite the fact<br />
that you can barely walk ten paces in them - and<br />
the ones you can actually wear for more than a few<br />
minutes without feeling the pinch of squished toes<br />
and the burn of sore soles, but you just don’t love?<br />
A stylish heel which feels as good as it looks is the<br />
holy grail of shoes, coveted by every footwear-loving<br />
fashionista.<br />
The answer? Well, it’s all down to flamingos. It<br />
was these most elegant of birds, seen perching<br />
precariously on spindle-like legs with ease, which<br />
provided the inspiration for Lichfield businesswoman<br />
Shaherazad Umbreen’s revolutionary heels, which<br />
guarantee 18 hours of pain-free wear - enough<br />
to take you from the boardroom to the bar while<br />
looking seriously stylish in the process.<br />
“Flamingos are able to stand for hours on end, often<br />
balanced on one leg, with grace and elegance,” says<br />
Shaherazad.<br />
“I discovered that this is to do with balance and body<br />
weight distribution; flamingos are unique in how they<br />
stand, and I was inspired to capture their secret in a<br />
pair of shoes. It’s all about the maths, but no-one has<br />
applied that to shoes before.<br />
“I’ve always loved shoes, and I’ve been guilty of<br />
buying so many pairs which I don’t wear. So I<br />
thought, what if you could buy less, but buy better?<br />
And if you’re going to buy less, how can one pair of<br />
shoes have a different style for different times of the<br />
day?”<br />
And so, Shoes by Shaherazad was born. Skilfully<br />
hand-crafted using the finest leather right here in<br />
Britain and then “sealed with a machine kiss”, as<br />
Shaherazad puts it, to ensure durability, these shoes<br />
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