When confidence wears a colour palette
Ever since Louboutin’s black-and-red classic appeared, I’ve loved that combination. Even as a girl, those two colours looked powerful to me. I’d watch women on Sloane Street walking in them, and you could see the confidence, the shoes gave them a certain edge. As I grew older and my own style evolved, I wondered how to bring that same edge into modest dressing. So I created my own modest version of that power look.
The world often imagines confidence in fitted dresses and high stilettos, but what if it could live somewhere else entirely? What if girl power could be in beautiful tailoring and a strong, contrasting colour palette?
There I was flowers in one hand, gelato in the other, wrapped in a palette borrowed from that very shoe. The black-and-red classic. The Louboutin duo. Except this time, it wasn’t about standing taller or enduring blisters on my toes, but about feeling taller in a way that had nothing to do with shoes, and everything to do with mindset.
A charcoal raincoat, clean trousers, a chevron knit, a red under-scarf and a bright handbag. No stilettos in sight. And yet, the feeling was surprisingly familiar: a small lift from within, not from beneath my feet.
The modest woman’s version of a power heel
For me, modesty is not only about covering; it’s also about how comfortably you move, how steadily you breathe, and how much of yourself you choose to keep for yourself.
So I realised something: I can take the bold red of a classic Louboutin and translate it into modest confidence. You don’t wear it for looking taller; you wear it to feel yourself; composed, and unmistakably present.
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The red bag became my version of a “power sole.”
The scarf framed my face the way a heel frames a silhouette.
Modesty doesn’t remove confidence.
It simply transforms it.
Finding elegance in restraint
There is a particular elegance in choosing what not to reveal. While much of fashion celebrates exposure, there is also space for women who build their style around privacy, structure, and ease. This outfit, inspired by a heel, reminded me that understated choices can be just as striking.
Black gives clarity.
White gives balance.
Red gives intention.
Together, they create a modest look that feels both stylish and spontaneous; an everyday kind of chic that doesn’t say I spent hours, but still says I care about how I present myself.
Stepping into the city with certainty
As I walked through cobbled streets, gelato melting slightly faster than it should, I found myself smiling. The irony wasn’t lost on me: a heel had inspired an outfit made entirely for walking.
But maybe that’s the point.
Confidence doesn’t always come from towering above the world. Sometimes it comes from moving through it comfortably, wrapped in colours that make you feel composed, grounded, and just a little bit daring.
And in that moment, I realised something worth writing down for the next chapter of Deenista & the City:
You don’t need the heel to feel the height.
