How to find the perfect ghillie shoes

Caroline Issa at London Fashion Week SS15 — CREDIT: SEAN CUNNINGHAM

It’s an odd quirk of geometry that longer hemlines demand more interesting footwear.

With miniskirts, the undulating contours of the human leg are interest enough. But a skirt that stops in the shin region doesn’t leave much in the way of undulation on show. A ballet pump now looks reductively simplistic. A stiletto pump is all-out wrong.

The kitten heel might work, but only if it has subversive detail. Otherwise it looks frumpy, and not in a good way (there is a good way to look frumpy, but we’ll have to leave that for another day).

The (very) chunky-soled skate shoe is one sporty solution, but sometimes something dressier and more feminine is required.

Enter the ghillie shoe, one of many good things to come out of Scotland.The ghillie (a black leather dancing shoe with laces – ring any bells? John Brown? La Sylphide?) is a marvellous synthesis of function and fashion. It was the stealth hit of spring and will continue its steady incursion into our wardrobes.

Why? Because it is simply brilliant: comfortable, feminine in a non-twee, balletic (ie deceptively tough) way, it also looks terrific with cropped wide trousers.

How to find a stylish, robust pair that does the job? Unless you are Sylvie Guillem and regard pain as a psychological trick the mind plays on ambition, forgo the excessively pointy for an almond toe and smooth ties –but avoid ribbons, which look silly if you’re not a ballerina.

Soft materials will give, but should provide some support and not gape. Suede feels dreamy but, unless it’s of superior quality, it exhausts itself after a couple of wears. Calf hair, often more pliant than leather and hardier than suede, is a luxury option.

Aquazzura’s cheetah-print calf-hair ones are, in terms of interest, the Arthur Miller of pumps – and £600. But ghillies are available at every price. “Sida”, Whistles’ burgundy version – great colour, good shape, sturdy and in an arresting lizardy texture (maybe not Arthur Miller, but easily Arnold Wesker) – is my pick.