For centuries, men and women have suffered for fashion. Sure, the current state of Western men’s clothing might be a wasteland of polo shirts and khaki shorts, but there was a time when a well-dressed gentleman wore stockings and heels. But while your average man no longer knows the agonizing pain of wearing stilettos for more than a few minutes, women are accustomed to the sensation of balancing our entire weight on .0001 percent of our body. Which is why some women choose to abstain from heels unless forced, for no amount of booty lift or sexy gams is worth the torture of wearing heels. But when a lady — such as actress Karen Gillan — wears stilettos she isn’t used to wearing for one reason or another, something universal happens: the grimace of “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
At the recent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premiere, Gillan admitted to the time-honored tradition of ditching her shoes as soon as she sat down.
If you look closely at the photo, you can see that her lips may be smiling for the cameras, but her eyes are saying, “I knew I should’ve worn these around the house last week to break them in. Damn my arrogance!”
But that wasn’t the only photo from the London blue carpet in which you can tell Gillan is suffering. In one group shot, the actress is posing in the classic: “use the people around me to offset the pressure on my toes, oh god why did I wear spiky heels this carpet is not padded enough to substitute as a cushion for the cardboard masquerading as the sole of these shoes.”
However, the end result was a slamming London premiere outfit. Gillan may not have provided a label for the torturous shoes, but her dress was by Self-Portrait, a company dedicated to affordable formal wear.