A good platform shoe is elevation without discomfort. It’s loftiness without foot flagellation.
You can walk briskly, if not canter, in a platform shoe. That’s because the heel and ball of the foot are close enough to be even keel. Which isn’t the case with a stiletto where the foot is forced into a tippy-toe position. A high-heeled shoe that isn’t a platform sends our backs into forward sway or lordosis of the lumber. That’s also known as back pain.
At the end of the night, a drunk woman will remove her high heels and walk bare foot because, at last, she doesn’t care what other people think. A woman totters in a stiletto. And the verb ‘to totter’ means taking a faltering step as if from extreme weakness.
Meanwhile, platform shoes are not for pussy footing. You can’t walk without making a clunking sound. They don’t land softly. A woman in a platform shoe is putting her foot down and everyone can hear it.