The high heel was once seen as an essential tool in the arsenal of the working woman but in recent years it has surrendered its back breaking power to the humble flat. From the ’40s to the noughties, when the incomprehensible Carrie Bradshaw tottered down the streets of Sex and the City’s New York in countless Manolo Blahniks and Christian Louboutins, the heel exuded glamour and the type of sensual power found in Helmut Newton’s most erotic photographs.

Now, unless your profession is the world’s oldest, “sensual power” and “glamour” are no longer corporate goals that we find comfortable. What women are finding comfortable are flats.