Last month, when Olivia Colman walked onstage at London’s Raindance Film Festival to accept the inaugural Icon award, she was her most down-to-earth: gracious, witty, and barefoot. Gone were the evening’s Malone Souliers stilettos, the candy-red punctuation to her all-black blazer and trousers. The internet sighed along with her. Even the most tolerable high heels take a toll during awards season—the carpet is long, the ceremonies longer—which is why Emma Thompson famously waved her Christian Louboutins in hand during the 2014 Golden Globes. It’s also why Frances McDormand wisely wore acid-yellow Valentino Birkenstocks to this year’s Academy Awards.
Could a foot cream formulated with CBD—that non-psychoactive panacea lately delivered via lip balm, capsules, cocktails, and even workout pants—be the so-called gateway back to high heels? Lord Jones, long a Hollywood favorite for its gold-crested boxes of CBD confections, thinks so. The Los Angeles brand has collaborated with Tamara Mellon, the Jimmy Choo cofounder who now runs her namesake footwear line, on the new formula, launching today. Given that the Emmys kick off the months-long red-carpet marathon next weekend, the arrival is auspicious. „We consider it a public service,” Lord Jones cofounder Cindy Capobianco says with a laugh. The timing, Mellon adds, is a „happy coincidence.”
Lord Jones x Tamara Mellon High CBD Formula Stiletto Cream, $70, tamaramellon.com and lordjones.com
Courtesy of Lord Jones.
The High CBD Formula CBD Stiletto Cream—anatomically specific, hero ingredient–rich—was born out of creative use of the line’s original CBD body moisturizer back in 2017. „The Lady Jones sent me the lotion and said, 'Put this on feet before heels,’ ” recalls the stylist Karla Welch, who keeps Ruth Negga, Sarah Paulson, and Elisabeth Moss in good threads. If her clients have shoe complaints, Welch is slyly mum, but „have you ever stood all night in super high heels?” she asks in mock horror. „I’ve never had something be so indispensable in my kit as the Lord Jones.” Those three letters—”the” before Lord—carry a faint ring of „Praise Be.”
The deep red boxes are a nod to Mellon’s signature color: spicy, like her 4-inch suede Paramour or strappy Rendezvous pumps. (However much she labors over her line’s fit—”I feel it’s probably the most comfortable heel on the market”—”anatomy is what it is,” she concedes.) Meanwhile, the emollient formulation is more than a vehicle for its buzzword ingredient, which, while in need of plenty more peer-reviewed research, is thought to have anti-inflammatory effects. „Your feet suffer a lot of wear and tear; they’re your primary mode of transportation,” Capobianco says, describing a balm-like base of shea butter, olive oil, and rapeseed oil. A blend of fruit acids also helps with gentle sloughing, to give active ingredients a better shot at penetration.
Just take care with application, cautions Capobianco, remembering the first time she tried the original body lotion on her feet in her marble bathroom. „I almost killed myself—it was like slipping on a banana peel!” she says, laughing. Socks are a good idea. So is Mellon’s approach: „I put the lotion on my feet, do my makeup, and then by the time I’m done, my feet are ready to go,” she says in a British lilt, not unlike the very capable Mary Poppins. As Dick Van Dyke’s Bert says in the 1964 movie, „There’s the whole world at your feet.”