Tall Concept: Shoes of the moment

This summer's vogue for high-heel sneakers can be traced to Dries Van Noten's Spring 2007 runway show, where they were a neat symbol of his melding of casual and classy (though we're not sure that's the look Victoria Beckham was going for last month in Los Angeles, when she wore a similar style to throw out the opening pitch at a Dodgers game). Following through on that idea are the Y-3 Phasma shoes, due out this fall. They're sneakers, but they all have a heel inspired by a particular sport—the highest being the Phasma 90, which is based on the starting position of the foot for track racing. They come in white and black, but unless you enjoy nurse comments or want to draw comparisons to mid-eighties secretarial getups, you might want to stick with black.

One talking point among guests at the Christian Dior Haute Couture party was Karen Mulder's shoe moment at the show an hour or so before. Apparently hobbled by Dior's perilous platforms, she gracefully floated herself to a seat at the edge of the runway rather than finish her tour. Equally serene (and surely more comfortable) a few hours later, Mulder unsurprisingly said "the shoes!" were the hardest part of returning to the catwalk. "When I did runway, they didn't haveshoes like this. They're insane now."