Update (07/11/14): This blew up and there were a lot of comments on the post and people messaging me to ask what happened. Since I’m not a runway model, I decided to ask one. I asked Kayley Chabot (whose résumé includes more than 100 shows in the four fashion capitals) if she had ever had to deal with uncomfortable shoes during fashion month, and here’s what she told me:

"The shoes are undoubtedly the worst part of fashion month. I’ve gone down the runway as my feet have been bleeding and torn apart from ridiculously small shoes. Almost every show I’ve ever done, the shoes have been much too small, either cutting off circulation and molding your foot to the shoe, or blisters and blood everywhere. Generally at the end of fashion month, I don’t recognize my own feet. They’re covered in blisters, cuts, everything. So yes, all of our feet look like that by the end of the month! (If a girl’s eyes look rather glossy during a show, she’s probably holding back tears.)”

So there you have it. Runway modeling may seem like a walk in the park, but it sounds like it can be a pretty excruciating, blister-filled walk.