A letter
The heels you keep by the door now.
A blue-gray door that is almost always open, two friends who greet every woman with “make yourself at home,” and the pointed heels they keep by their own front door.
Most women I speak to own a pair of beautiful heels they never wear. They are not unloved. They are simply the ones you do the arithmetic for: how far from the car to the table, how long until the strap starts to rub, how much of the evening you will spend thinking about your feet. So you reach past them, and after a while you stop expecting anything lovely to be comfortable at all.
I have written about women and what they wear for a long time, and shoes come up in almost every conversation. So when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they had found a heel they reach for without doing the math first, I wanted to understand what happens behind that door.
It starts, fittingly, at the door. Parker & Hayes lives in a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, behind a blue-gray bay window and a blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it literally. There is a small brass plaque beside it, and the women who visit all describe the same greeting: “Come in, make yourself at home.”
Inside it is not a store. It is a home. The front room has warm wood floors, an old wooden table piled with folded knits, and daylight falling through the bay window. There is a cup of tea if you want one, and nobody rushes you; the house asks only that you take your time. Every so often Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of knits, and the two friends tease each other about whose taste is better. Women do not come here as customers. They come as guests.
Margaret has the eye for a touch of polish; Eleanor reaches for the softest thing in the room. Their house rule settles every argument: nothing comes in unless it is elegant and comfortable. With a heel, they told me, that rule is the hardest of all to keep. The pair that passed it stands right by their own front door: a pointed, knit-upper block heel called the Ruth. “That is the one we both step into,” Eleanor said. I asked them why, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1A strap that holds on to your foot
“This is the part that changes everything. A broad elastic band crosses the instep and a slim slingback catches the heel, so the shoe moves with your step instead of sliding off it. There is nothing to buckle and nothing to adjust halfway through the evening. You step in, and you are ready, which is exactly why ours stand by our own front door.”
2A knit upper that gives where you need it
“Eleanor would not let a stiff shoe into this house. The pointed toe is woven from a fine stretch knit rather than cut from hard material, so it eases around the width of your foot instead of pressing against it. Nothing to break in, no first evening to survive. That is the difference between a shoe you put up with and one you forget you are wearing.”
3A heel you can actually stand on
“Your weight rests on a broad, squared heel rather than a single point, so your ankle stays steady on tile, on pavement and on the occasional patch of lawn. Underneath there is a rubber outsole that holds on to polished floors and wet sidewalks alike. You get the height and the elegance without the wobble of a stiletto.”
4Sharp enough for everything you own
“Margaret insisted on the point. It draws the line of the leg out and makes a cropped trouser or a midi hem look considered rather than accidental. We wear them from the kitchen table to lunch with friends, and then straight on to dinner: the black for the days that call for something sharp, the warm cognac for everything in between. In US sizes 6 to 12.5.”
The Ruth, next to the usual heel
| The usual heel | The Ruth | |
|---|---|---|
| The feel | Stiff, and needs breaking in | A fine stretch knit that gives from the first wear |
| The fit | Slides at the heel, gapes at the instep | A wide elastic band across the instep, a slingback at the heel |
| The heel | Balanced on a single point | A broad, squared heel you can stand on |
| The sole | Slippery on tile and wet pavement | A rubber outsole with real grip |
| The look | Sharp, or comfortable, pick one | A pointed toe that lengthens the leg, in black or warm cognac |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would, with a little card on which Margaret writes two words. Welcome home. It sounds like a small thing. Reading what women write back, I am not sure it is.
Because not every woman can walk through that blue-gray door herself, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to mark it, they are holding their very first Open House, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Ruth Pointed Block Heels
P|H - Pointed Elastic-Strap Block Heels for Women Ruth
$119.95$54.95Save 54%
- A stretch-knit upper with nothing to break in
- A wide elastic strap and a slingback that keep your foot in place
- A broad, squared heel that stays steady
- Black or warm cognac · US sizes 6 to 12.5
- Free shipping · 30-day returns
Open House prices, for a little while only
What I would tell you if we were friends
For years a great many of us have kept our prettiest shoes at the back of the closet and called that sensible. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is that they simply refuse to make you choose: an open door, the front room with the tea still warm, and a heel built so the shoe holds on to your foot instead of the other way around.
If there is a pair in your closet you admire and never wear, come in and have a look at the Ruth. Take your time. Pick the one you would reach for on the way out the door, the black or the cognac. Their door is always open.
Welcome home.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Carter
- Free ShippingOn every order
- 30-Day ReturnsWithin 30 days of delivery
- Parker & HayesA townhouse shop in New York
Elizabeth Carter writes for Parker & Hayes. · Parker & Hayes, New York · Free shipping · 30-day returns.