The rise and rise of WOW wedges

Yves Saint Laurent's WOWs are wavy-bottomed and adorned with starfish, Burberry Prorsum's are teal-heeled with wooden beads, and Jimmy Choo's come with candy-striped or zebra print bases.

French designer Pierre Hardy and London's top cordwainers - including Charlotte Olympia, Brian Atwood and Nicholas Kirkwood - have also turned their hands to statement wedges, ensuring the most stylish feet will be stomping this summer.

These aren't the plain, low wedge favoured by the Middleton sisters and their many clones ("meh-dges", as they've been dubbed) - these are a statement shoe for those with Imelda Marcos aspirations (her heel collection, rather than the dictator husband).

Katy Perry was an early adopter: stepping out in a pair of Alexander McQueen armour-heeled wedge platform sandals in Las Vegas last month - complete with pink leopard-print toenails.

And last week, Florence Welch donned pale peach, sculpted wedges - also McQueen - for the Brits, while Naomi Campbell was recently photographed in a black, taller version of the style for Harper's Bazaar.

Katie Holmes opted for a softer take on this trend in poppy print YSLs, while singer LeAnn Rimes wore cut-out wooden platform wedges - somewhat bizarrely - to attend church in LA.

On the high street and online, River Island, ASOS, Carvela, Aldo and Kurt Geiger all let you copy the look for less. Best of all, the extra cushioning compared with a gravity-defying stiletto should make for a more comfortable summer.

It might be time to attend to those long-covered toes and heels, though: for if you wear the WOW, everyone will be looking at your feet.