If you’ve ever heard it said “I love wedges but can’t stand heels” then perhaps you are confused as to whether there is a difference between wedge shoes and heels.
After all, aren’t all wedges high heels? Let’s find out.
What is a wedge shoe?
The definition of a wedge is a shoe which has a raised heel relative to the toe, but with a sole that is continuously in contact with the ground. This means the heel-end of the sole is thicker (and therefore taller) than the toe end.
With a wedge, the shoe slopes up gradually, giving the height of a stiletto heel but the stable base of a flat. From side-on this forms a wedge shape for which these shoes are named.
Wedges can be great for your confidence: you can walk just as tall as if wearing stilettos, but secure in the knowledge that you won’t fall over. And wedges were even popularised by a famous heel designer.
But are wedges really heels?
Are wedges and high heels the same thing?
Whether wedges are high heels is one of those questions that the answer depends who you ask.
Some people say that wedges are a type of high heel. Others say that wedges are a high heel alternative.
And others refer to wedges as “wedge heels” which acknowledges that they have something in common with other heels but something different too.
In our opinion, wedges do not count as high heels. The key factor in a high heel is that the heel of the shoe is elevated verses the toe; in other words the heel is higher.
Wedges do fit this description.
But we think it is better to think of wedges as elevated heels rather than high heels.
Usually we refer to “heels” to mean shoes which contact the ground at the heel and the ball of the foot, with a gap in between. That gap is always bigger than the thickness of the heel, often many times bigger (such as with stilettos).
Therefore we can refer to “kitten heels”, “mid-height heels”, “low heels”, “high heels”, “block heels” and “stiletto heels” all as simply “heels”.
The height and the chunkiness of the shoe’s heel might vary but these all have the characteristic that there is a large gap between the part of the front of the foot that contacts the ground and the part of the back of the foot that does so (ie the heel).
Wedges differ in this fundamental way from these other shoes that we call heels. It is the key feature that makes them different that means wedges aren’t really heels.
As we wouldn’t refer to wedges as simply “heels” so it stands to reason that even high wedges wouldn’t be considered high heels.
But let’s call them “high wedge heels” and perhaps all the controversy about whether wedges are heels can melt away.