You’re four photos deep into a shoe listing and the description reads like a code: “d’Orsay slingback, 85mm cone heel, almond toe.” The picture looks promising. The words don’t help. You close the tab, then open it again ten minutes later because you still like the shoe.
Most heel names describe one of four things: the shape of the heel, how tall it is, where the straps sit, or how much of your foot is covered. Learn to sort a word into one of those buckets and the labels stop being code. You can look at a pair and know whether it will stay on your foot during a wedding recessional.
Here’s the plain-English version, in the order you’ll actually meet these names.
The two names that cover half the shoes in your closet
If a shoe has a closed toe, a closed back, no buckles, and you can step into it without touching a fastener, English calls it a pump. British shops call the same shoe a court shoe. That’s the whole difference. A pump is not a heel height or a heel shape; it’s a silhouette, and a pump can sit on a 40mm block or a 100mm stiletto.
Your black interview shoe is a pump. So is the nude pair you wear to weddings because they go with everything. When a listing says “classic pump,” picture a low-cut vamp that shows the top of your foot, a rounded or pointed toe, and nothing else going on.
The test takes two seconds in a shop:
- Can you slide your foot in without undoing anything? Pump.
- Is there anything crossing your instep? Then it’s a Mary Jane or a strap shoe, not a pump.
- Is the back missing entirely? That’s a mule.
- Is the back held by a thin strap? Slingback.
Stiletto is the word people misuse most. It describes the heel, not the shoe: a very thin, high heel that tapers to a narrow tip, usually under 10mm across at the bottom. A stiletto pump and a stiletto sandal are different shoes with the same heel. If a listing says “stiletto” and shows a chunky heel, the copywriter was being loose with language.
Heel height has its own vocabulary, and the numbers matter more than the words
Height names get thrown around without numbers, which is why they’re useless on their own. Here’s what each one usually means in millimetres.
Kitten heel: 30mm to 50mm, thin, set slightly forward under the arch. It’s the one your grandmother wore and your podiatrist approves of. Block heel: a squared-off column, anything from 40mm to 90mm, and the widest contact patch you can get while still being a heel. Cone heel: round at the top, tapering to a small oval at the bottom. It looks slimmer than a block but spreads load better than a stiletto.
Flared heel: narrow at the waist, wider at the base. Louis heel: the curved French shape with a slight flare, common on wedding shoes. Cuban heel: short, thick, slightly tapered, borrowed from men’s boots.
Now the part nobody puts on the product page. Past roughly 75mm, most of your body weight moves onto the ball of your foot, and the pressure per square centimetre climbs fast. That’s the physics behind the ache you get at hour three of a reception. A 70mm heel with a wider tip is the compromise most people can wear from 8am to 6pm without thinking about their feet. A 100mm stiletto is a 90-minute shoe, and that’s fine as long as you plan for it.
Worth knowing: the same 85mm feels completely different depending on platform thickness. A 20mm hidden platform cuts the effective pitch to 65mm. Check the platform number before you decide a heel is unwearable.
Heel construction and its effect on gait is well documented, and the anatomy of a high-heeled shoe is a decent place to see the parts labelled.
Strap names decide whether the shoe stays on your foot
Straps are the practical half of heel vocabulary. Two pairs can have identical heels and feel nothing alike because of where the strap sits.
Slingback: a strap that runs around the back of your heel, usually with a small buckle or elastic section. It holds the shoe on without covering your heel, which is why it works in summer and why it fails if the strap sits too low. If you have a narrow heel, slingbacks slip; look for one with two holes of adjustment, not one.
Ankle strap: a band around your ankle bone. It stops your foot sliding forward, which is the main reason your toes go numb in backless shoes. The trade-off is a visual break at the ankle that shortens the leg line. A thin strap in a shade close to your skin colour minimizes that.
T-strap: a vertical strap from the toe area up to the ankle band, forming a T. It’s the most secure of the lot and the most flattering on a high instep, because the vertical line pulls the eye upward. The catch is fit: a T-strap has almost no give, so if it’s tight across the top of your foot, it stays tight. More on that in a piece on T-strap heels and where the strap should sit.
Mary Jane: one strap across the instep, closed toe, usually a low or medium heel. The strap position changes everything. A strap high on the instep looks prim; a strap low and wide looks modern.
One rule of thumb: the more straps, the more adjustment points, the better the odds the shoe fits a foot that isn’t average. If your heel is narrow and your forefoot is wide, a T-strap or a two-buckle sandal will serve you better than any pump.
Open-back, open-toe: mule, d’Orsay, peep toe, slide
This family is about coverage, and it’s where most online returns come from. People order a photo, not a shape.
Mule: backless, no strap, closed or open toe. You shuffle into it. Mules are comfortable for the first hour and unreliable on stairs, because nothing anchors your heel. If you’re going to be on a carpeted floor all evening, fine. If there’s a cobblestone courtyard between the car and the door, think twice.
D’Orsay: a pump with the sides cut away, so the arch of your foot is exposed and only the toe and heel are enclosed. It’s the most elegant cut in this list and the least forgiving. The cutaway removes the material that would normally hold your midfoot, so the fit depends entirely on the toe box and heel counter. Narrow feet do well. Wide feet often can’t get in at all.
Peep toe: a small opening at the front that shows one or two toes. It was everywhere in the 2010s and it’s back on bridal shelves. Practical note: a peep toe pinches if your second toe is longer than your big toe, which is true for a lot of people. Try before you commit.
Slide: one wide band across the foot, open toe, open back. Not really a heel in the traditional sense, but shops file sandals with a 60mm heel under the same category. Slides are the easiest thing to walk in and the easiest thing to walk out of.
Wedges and platforms: heels that don’t feel like heels
A wedge is a sole that’s one continuous piece from toe to heel, with no gap under the arch. Because the whole sole touches the ground, your weight distributes across the entire foot instead of concentrating under the ball. That’s why a 90mm wedge feels like a 50mm stiletto, and why people who swear they can’t wear heels end up living in wedges all summer.
The wedge silhouette has been through several revivals since the 1940s, mostly because it’s the only heel shape that works on grass. If you’ve got an outdoor wedding, a garden party, or a park reception in your calendar, this is the answer.
Espadrille: a wedge with a braided jute sole and a fabric upper. Light, breathable, and completely destroyed by rain. One proper soaking and the jute goes stiff and starts to smell. Wear them in dry weather only, and don’t leave them in a hot car.
Flatform: a flat shoe on a thick uniform sole, no pitch at all. Comfortable, heavy, and the reason your ankles roll on uneven pavement. Platform is the general term for any raised sole; a platform heel is a heel with extra height under the toe, which reduces the angle your foot sits at.
A caveat worth having: platforms and wedges aren’t automatically safer than stilettos. A high platform raises your centre of gravity, and a stiff sole gives you less feedback from the ground. If you’re clumsy on stairs sober, you’ll be worse on them at 11pm.
Booties, shooties, and the shaft words
Once a heel grows a shaft, the naming changes completely.
Ankle bootie: ends at or just above the ankle bone. The most useful height for autumn, because it works under trousers and with dresses. Shootie: a shoe-bootie hybrid with a low-cut front, so it reads like a shoe from the side and a boot from behind. Chelsea boot: ankle height, elastic side panel, pull tab, no laces. Sock boot: a stretch upper that hugs the ankle, usually on a block heel; comfortable, and unforgiving if your calf is on the larger side.
Mid-calf and knee-high boots are their own category with their own fit rules (calf circumference matters more than shoe size). If you’re shopping for those, measure your calf at the widest point before you order anything.
Booties also solve a problem heels can’t: a shaft grips your ankle, so your foot doesn’t slide forward. If you love the look of a pump but hate how your toes feel after two hours, an ankle bootie with the same heel height will feel noticeably better. It’s the shaft doing the work, not the cushioning.
What the name won’t tell you
Every word above describes appearance. None of them tell you whether the shoe will fit, and that’s where the money goes.
Three numbers are worth checking before you buy a pair of heels you can’t try on. The first is heel height in millimetres, not inches, because 3.5 inches and 90mm are not the same thing and the difference shows up at hour four. The second is the platform height, since it changes the effective pitch. The third is the toe box width, which is why a pointed toe at 90mm is a different experience from an almond toe at 90mm.
If you have wide feet, size up half a size in pointed styles and add a heel grip rather than squeezing into your usual number. If your heel is narrow, avoid backless cuts and look for an adjustable slingback or a T-strap. If you have a high instep, a low-cut vamp will cut across the top of your foot and leave a red mark within twenty minutes.
None of this is a reason to avoid heels. It’s a reason to stop buying them by photo alone.
For what it’s worth, the pairs that get worn most tend to be the boring ones: a 70mm block heel, a rounded toe, a colour that matches your skin more than your outfit. Nude isn’t one shade, so it’s worth spending ten minutes on matching a tan heel to your own skin tone before you order. Get that right and one pair replaces three.
You can see the range in the wider women’s shoe collection, including pieces like these thick heels built for standing through a long event. For evening, a satin black pump with a slim heel covers the dressier half of the calendar.
Start with the heel height you can already walk in, then pick the name that matches the occasion. The vocabulary is just there to help you order the right thing the first time.
