I Wore Plastic Naked Shoes for 10 Hours and Lived to Tell the Tale

There are two different types of "naked" shoes: subtle nude pumps that go with everything and full-on level-10 plastic naked shoes that put your foot on full display. While the former is a classic, the latter is squarely in trend territory, but it's a big trend at that, and it's one that I was initially reluctant to try. That is until I spotted a perfect pair of plastic naked shoes by Maryam Nassir Zadeh. They're a rather old-school shape: kitten-heel pumps that just happen to be made of PVC with metallic gold leather accents. They instantly draw the eye to the foot and lead to a plethora of compliments.

Call me crazy, but I chose a long day of meetings during a recent trip to L.A. to break them in for the first time. (No, this was not an experiment—I'm just that dedicated to fashion apparently.) Coincidentally, the day before I wore the plastic shoes, I read this Vogue piece about why they may be bad for your health, but I ventured on. Surprisingly, by hour 10, I was still blister-free, as the shoes were much more flexible than I'd expected. (That said, I imagine they'd be quite uncomfortable if they were even just a tiny bit too small.) I also wasn't prepared for the condensation they created if your feet sweat even the tiniest bit, so I ended up spending half the day tucking them away so that no one would see the gross side effect. Because of this, I opted to change into another pair of heels for the evening's activities. (That's me above on the way to my hotel to change my shoes.)

Taking all that into consideration (and how many compliments I got on the shoes), I'd definitely wear the trend again, albeit with a pair of cool socks or just for a few hours at a time (and not in 90-degree heat) or choose a pair that's a bit more breathable. With that, shop the shoes along with some more of my favorite plastic naked shoes below.

Shop another cool shoe trend here.