Real stories · The flat that secretly helps

Ballet flats always looked right and felt wrong — these hide the help inside

A ballet flat with the help hidden inside — that's what these are, and they've ended a long argument between my eyes and my feet. I'm 67, and I've always loved what a neat black flat does for an outfit; my feet have always disagreed, loudly, because a truly flat shoe gives them nothing at all — no lift, no support, and by mid-afternoon, no mercy.

What I wanted was the LOOK of the ballerina with none of its flatness.

Then I found the Aurenellea from a British label called York Boutique — a soft black slip-on ballerina with a low wedge tucked invisibly inside the heel. Mine is the black; there's beige and blue as well.

The hidden wedge is the whole conspiracy. From the outside it reads as a classic neat flat — which is why it goes with the dresses and the good trousers exactly as a ballerina should — while inside, that gentle lift and the soft cushioned bed give my feet the support a flat never offers, hour after hour. Slip-on, light, and not a lace or buckle to negotiate.

A classic neat ballerina on the outside, a gentle hidden wedge and soft support on the inside — which is why my eyes and my feet have finally signed a peace treaty.

They were £29.95, half the usual £60 — less than the 'proper' flats they've retired, which looked identical and helped with nothing. I did check I could send them back if they didn't suit — a fortnight, free delivery — which settled it.

They have since done three weeks of errands, one long museum afternoon and every coffee morning going, with no mid-afternoon mutiny from below — and when I finally showed Sandra the little wedge hiding in the heel she tipped the shoe over, looked inside like it owed her an explanation, and said 'well, that's just cheating.' It is. Comfortable cheating.

If ballet flats also look right and feel wrong on you, do have a look. The Aurenellea is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 260 women, it comes in black, beige and blue, in UK sizes 2.5 to 9 — and at half price the black goes first.