Grown-up fashion: can older women wear bondage shoes?

Are tough shoes with leather and buckles appropriate for mature women? Gwyneth Paltrow did it, but does it work?
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Heels that would make a more fitting tribute to Herzog & de Meuron architecture than a practical addition to our wardrobes should be eyed with a degree of suspicion. Factor in those wide ankle straps and a smattering of studs and zips (not to mention the gaudy, chunky buckles) and you wonder why exactly you've decided to shroud the one part of your body that never puts on weight.

Just when did life become so complicated?
Once upon a time it was all about flats or a pair of courts; now there are sub-genres among the 10in platforms that are better acquainted with your local A&E ward than with the average cobbled pavement.
Suggesting that unless you resemble Carine Roitfeld - the dominatrix editor of French Vogue who shares more than a passing resemblance to Iggy Pop - you should steer clear of bondage, would be spoiling all the fun, however.

But do bear this in mind: Gwynnie and her less than perfect knees and short, short skirt was one example of how not to wear these sandals past the age of Pixie Geldolf.
There are two things to remember here: cigarette pants and a pair of tights. The former could be worn in the radical 7/8 length - all the better to show off the remarkable strap action (round the foot itself is best) that usually accompanies towering skyscrapers. The latter adds a certain chic to your dress or skirt ensemble in so much as it covers up too much bare flesh and spider veins.

There's also a fine balance between overly clumpy and very spindly. Elegant bondgage sandals (and this is all relative) can look a little twee - all cute zips and stick thin heels. Whatever you do, don't go for anything too vampish: this is bondage in a stompy, fashiony, fun way, not what Dita Von Teese wears to perform her burlesque routines.