Member-only story
The Day I Followed Confidence in Shorts and Platforms
Real confidence doesn’t need an audience
There are days when London feels like she’s showing off. Today was one of them.
The sky was that cheerful kind of blue that makes you walk slower just to enjoy it. Sunlight danced on glass, jumpers were abandoned, and strangers even made eye contact without flinching. It was glorious.
Then I got off the tube.
I hadn’t walked more than ten steps before I found myself behind two girls who looked like they’d taken a wrong turn on the way to a music video audition.
One was wearing shorts so tiny they could’ve been confiscated as lost property, while the other was navigating the pavement in platform heels roughly the height of my hopes and dreams. They were trying so hard to walk like they weren’t trying. But you could feel the effort.
The one in heels kept glancing down like the pavement was plotting against her. The one in shorts tugged at her hem with a mix of optimism and denial. They weren’t talking. Just walking forward, heads held high, pretending this was all totally normal.
But I could tell.
They were performing.
