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The fashion world has gone flat. Pumps have stepped aside to allow pretty peep-toed shoes and beribboned ballet slippers a shot as this season's must-have accessory.

Tod's, Tory Burch, Chanel and Marc Jacobs are for the big spenders. Pairs from Payless and Town Shoes are no less eye-catching, thanks to metallic leathers, beaded embellishments and bright colours.

But while the blue patent Manolo Blahnik brogue might fuel envy from female co-workers, what does the attractive and unattached male colleague think?

“I totally respect and understand a woman's desire to wear comfortable shoes,” CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi says. “Absolutely! But those ballet slipper things? Not sexy. At all. Anti-sexy.”

His feelings are so strong on the matter, we should mention, that he insisted on writing them in an e-mail, to make sure his point got across.

“Putting on flats is like a woman putting her hair up,” says Devon McGregor, co-owner of Balance Fitness in Toronto. He actually means this endearingly. His fiancée, Rosanna Carelli, the club's general manager, wears heels to work, so for McGregor, flats are a welcome change. “It's like contact lenses,” he explains. “When a woman puts on glasses, you see her in a different way that's nice and casual.”

Okay, so flats are lacking in “va-va-va-voom.” That doesn't mean sexy is out of the question. Toe cleavage or a slim ankle helps. Canadian Idol judge Jake Gold persuaded his wife, Leesa Butler, executive producer of f-list.ca, to keep a pair of ladylike black patent Burberry flats. “Flats don't work when they're clunky, but she happens to look really good in them,” he says.

Gold is also a fan of flats that lace up the leg, especially when worn with a specific flowy Hugo Boss dress he describes as Roman-goddess-meets-peasant-girl. But if asked to choose between flats and heels, he's unequivocal. “I love the way a heel makes a woman's leg look taut.”

And gams are the new erogenous zone, after all. “Heels are like cleavage,” says Richard Markowitz, a brand manager for Toronto footwear destinations Davids and Capezio. He is also the grandson of company founders Louis and Julia Markowitz, and thus can appreciate the classic elegance of a Ferragamo slipper – and women who wear flats with flair.

When Capezio opened in 1976, the store specialized in the namesake Italian ballet flats. Today, flats from various brands represent roughly 50 per cent of the stock – much higher than in years past.

“As a straight guy in the fashion industry, flats represent my kind of girl – she's cute but sophisticated,” Markowitz says. “I think there's a certain level of confidence in a woman who wears flats, as in, ‘I don't need to over-embellish my shoes.' “ Exactly, says New York designer Phillip Lim, who, as a staunch proponent of heels, recommends flats only if they're unadorned. “It's a Minnie Mouse charm.” That's why a tailored suit acts as the perfect foil, he says. It's a look that contradicts the way most women are wearing flats today: with leggings, skinny jeans, miniskirts or flouncy dresses à la Sienna Miller and Kate Moss.

The fact that flats offer women comfort, style and versatility accounts for their continued popularity (fashion insiders will insist that flats emerged as a trend a few seasons ago). But comfort isn't enough to win the boys over.

New Yorker Derrick Miller, co-founder of the Barker Black line of men's shoes, has made an arrangement with his fiancée: “We have a deal where I'll pay for taxis if she wears heels.”

Still, his insight into footwear forces him to add, “If you can make a flat look cool, you really know what you're doing.”