Shoes without anything under the arch aren’t a new phenomenon; I’ve seen brands as elegant and high-end as Yves Saint Laurent do it in various ways, but those particular pieces were obviously not meant for widespread consumption. Not only were they prohibitively expensive, but they were postured as extremely special shoes that one might wear to a particular event, but not to just any old party.

On the other hand, the Jeffrey Campbell Benched Cut-Out Platform strikes me as nearly…casual. They’re made to be sold at mall stores like Urban Outfitters to regular girls without anyplace in particular to go, except they’re not a full shoe.

I know I can get a little preachy about shoe safety, but that’s because I’ve been on the other side of the fence – once you ruin an ankle or foot, there’s not much that can be done to fix it. That’s why I find shoes like these borderline offensive; 18-year-olds who don’t have any sense waste money on poorly made things like this with no structure and end up with painful fallen arches (I’ve had those too, because I was a moron in a past life), and at the risk of sounding like my mother, they just shouldn’t do it. Save your money and buy a real pair of shoes that doesn’t need a gimmick to be interesting. Or, completely ignore me and buy them through Need Supply for $139.

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