Susannah Frankel: Red shoes conjure up Hans Christian Andersen and Dorothy’s ruby slippers

New season. New shoes. And my latest purchase represents something of a departure. Far from neatly fitting in with the dark, distressed looks that I have been known on occasion to favour (ahem), my new shoes are happy shoes. Happy shoes, happy feet. And not in a cute-dancing-penguin sort of way.

I have Miuccia Prada (via Net-a-Porter) to thank for the red shoes pictured here, which I am now proud to own. They're Miu Miu – a label reflective of the most playful side of the designer's personality – and in the first instance the colour is of note, clearly. That is: they're not black.

In Proustian terms (just call me Marcel Frankel, everybody else does), red shoes conjure up many references. Think of Hans Christian Andersen's dark fairy tale depicting a pair of red shoes in which the wearer couldn't stop dancing or, of course, of Dorothy's ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz.

Right now, red shoes are big business, as proven by the recent ruling granting trademark status to Christian Louboutin's red-soled shoes.

My red shoes are not serious, though. They are shiny (satin-covered leather), embroidered with a flamboyant black crest, and their small heels are crafted in metal and studded with crystal. Yes, crystal. In an all-too-often downbeat world, they couldn't be better, giving even the most worn jeans, for example, an instant fashion lift and making innocent passers-by smile at me – or at least at my feet.

Susannah Frankel is Fashion Editor of 'The Independent'

s.frankel@independent.co.uk