Should upmarket clubs and restaurants permit trainers?

YES – Says Jane Warren

Tottering around in high heels was never my idea of fun.

In fact I am so allergic to the tyranny of uncomfortable footwear that when the Crocs boom started I pioneered wearing them at the office – something that half a dozen male and female colleagues were quick to copy.

Suddenly we could rush for trains, head off on appointments and sit at our computers all with happy feet.

Today, as a contented homeworker, I can wear whatever I like. And that means Converse trainers (or wellies when it is muddy out).

So it seems that I would fit right in at Annabel’s, which has just discovered what I have known for years and has relaxed its dress code to include the sort of sensible, stylish footwear that actually makes walking and standing on your feet a pleasure – so long as they are not the scruffy sort that have actually been used for any kind of sporting activity (yuck!).

Trainers maketh the modern man (and woman).

For liberalminded types like me they are a natural dressed-down choice. And, when it comes to men, they defi nitely suggest a more creative, free-thinking type than the uptight sort who thinks he is horribly underdressed if he is not wearing shiny brogues and sensible ribbed socks.

Trainers speak of youth and fun. And they hint at a slightly maverick soul, happy to break stylish new ground in what they choose to wear on their feet. For footwear fashion has moved on since the days when trainers were just for sport or for wearing because you could not be bothered with your image beyond a pair of Dunlop Green Flash.

Both Jimmy Choo’s Miami trainers for women and Gucci’s leather trainers with water snake panes for men break the £600 barrier.

But you really don’t have to spend that much to look as good as your feet feel, so well done Annabel’s for acknowledging that style evolves.

Allowing stylish trainers into upmarket establishments is a thoroughly democratic and sensible decision, for the purpose of a dress code is not to exclude or make people feel out of place.

Rather, it is the opposite: to make everyone feel comfortable. And trainers are the sine qua non of comfort – you really can wear them with, well, everything.

As someone who has not worn high heels for 15 years I am now looking forward to the day it is acceptable to wear my burgundy leather Converses in any social setting.

NO – Says Monica Porter

A pair of well-made trainers are about as comfy as it gets. But there are times when comfort is not the prime consideration, otherwise we would spend our entire lives in silk pyjamas like the late Hugh Hefner.

So while trainers are ideal for trudging around the shops, taking kids to the playground and – of course – for working out, why on earth would you pair them with a dapper suit or chic dress on a swanky night out?

I realise that some trendy brands of trainer can cost as much as a pair of Manolo Blahniks but that does not make them suitable for every occasion.

Because whatever the price tag, your dainty feet are always going to look like trainer-shaped lumps in them.

The female foot is actually quite a fetching and seductive part of the body. And when encased in a pair of elegant shoes (particularly high heels, which elongate and enhance the legs) feet are a great asset.

But no amount of all that glitterysparkly decoration used on some high-end designer trainers – in order to make them appear formal – can do that for you.

As for the men who so cleave to their trainers that they seem to have forgotten about the existence of real leather shoes, this is merely a modern affectation. Ubiquitous trainerwearing started with the young, naturally enough, because they did not want to dress like their dads. But now that their fathers are also wearing trainers just about everywhere they go in an effort to look “cool” it is all a bit embarrassing.

Trainers, it seems, are the new blue jeans: just another bit of kit to adopt for those oldies who like to copy their children.

As I say, they are brilliant for everyday traipsing purposes. Goodness, I have even climbed a mountain, descended into a rocky gorge and crossed a desert (only a small one) in trainers.

But please, let’s not pretend that they are appropriate footwear in the more glamorous realm of the nightclub or the smart restaurant.

Let’s retain a sense of occasion and relish the business of getting dolled up – from head to toe.

We have lost so much of the old-world stylishness we once admired. Nowadays even movie stars go around looking like bag ladies and tramps. Can you imagine, for example, Marilyn Monroe on a night out in a pair of trainers? Me neither.

I mean, the clue is in the name.