Gen Z mocks millennial women who wear these shoes: Here’s what young people are wearing instead

Gen Z is kicking the sloppy mobs to the curb.

Soup boots and chunky platforms are now a thing of the past as the sartorial pendulum swings in the opposite direction, with chic kitten heels now reigning supreme.

“2024 is the year of the kitten heel,” declared publicist Kendra Hettig for Hello Magazine.

From strappy sandals to ankle boots, shoes of all styles are now graced with a thin, less than 2-inch heel, worn by Hailey Bieber, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Victoria Beckham and Bella Hadid.

Before, tiny ankle boots were all the rage with millennial women, who are now being mocked by Zoomers who want a kitten heel.

The low heel has also appeared on recent catwalks for some of the biggest names in the business, such as Prada, Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Jacquemus.

But despite achieving chic status, kitten heels have long been a controversial shoe.

Once associated with grandmothers, the kitten heel is a bit of a “hard in the middle” shoe, Colleen Hill, senior curator of costume at the Museum at FIT, told Footwear News, adding that they were “often marketed to young women who didn’t were still ready for higher heels – hence the reference to a cute, young animal.

They are “strangely between and among them,” agreed Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum.

“Kitten heels are not as comfortable or as secure as a flat, and they don’t do the job, if you will, of a stiletto in terms of expressing power or desirability,” she told Footwear News.

Hill, however, argued that they are better for foot health than a sky-high stiletto and are easier to walk in than a wedge.

“This style can work really well with different looks, especially if the wearer wants to play with proportions – they can be paired really well with cropped trousers, for example,” added Hill.

The style of heels dates back to the 1950s, according to the media, but didn’t really grow in popularity until Audrey Hepburn wore them in Breakfast at Tiffany’s almost a decade later. In the 90s, Princess Diana – a style icon for Gen Z fashionistas – also sported low-profile stilettos.

“The kitten’s heel has long been associated with humility, so maybe that’s part of its challenge,” Semmelhack said.

Coincidentally, the word “demure” is a front-runner for the Oxford University Press word of the year, appearing on the short list of pop culture terms vying for the top spot.

Originating from a viral TikTok by creator Jools LeBron, the buzzing mantra “too humble, too conscious” spread across social media and inspired more “smooth” looks during the “thick fall,” bringing a style antithesis to the ” thick wine”.

Kitten heels, then, fall in line with the current trend cycle of quiet luxury and hidden wealth – where logo-free clothing signals wealth – and, of course, the idea of ​​being “humble”, according to The Guardian contributor Jess Cartner -Morley.

She wrote: “The Demure is a low-heeled shoe that you can dance in instead of walking around the house wearing blistered stilettos.”