The Find: high-heeled sneakers may sound like an oxymoron, but they’re the most popular shoe in town

Photographs by Carlo Mendoza | Research and Styling by Gabrielle Johnson

This spring, there was an unlikely lineup snaking around the Nike store on Bloor. There were no runners or cyclists or basketballers in sight—only a gaggle of giddy shopaholics hoping to snatch up a pair of limited-edition Dunk Sky Hi’s (some women left with all five colours, at $210 a pop). The frenzy signalled the arrival in Toronto of the wedge sneaker—part high heel, part running shoe. The trend was born in Paris last year, when the designer Isabel Marant unleashed the first odd-looking but oddly comfortable version on the world. Since then, shoemakers high and low have been cashing in—and fashionable women have been walking a little taller as a result.