Shoe blog

Spring Sandals

I’ve been on the beach in Florida for the past couple weeks, where I’ve discovered that life revolves around sandals, mostly of the flip-flop variety (witnessed by The Sartorialist today), as you can’t really traipse around in platforms on the beach (though I have seen valiant style disasters, especially cute Japanese girls, try to do it).

Spring weather in the cities, however, means hot sandals, not flip-flops.

What to wear this spring as the weather gets better? (I know you New Yorkers were still complaining about the lack of spring as of a couple days ago but it’s almost 60 degrees up there now!) Polish those tootsies up at home (to save cash for more shoes!) with some nude, fuschia or burnt orange polish (the colors of the season, much to my dismay!) and look to 2009 resortwear sandals. Or, if you’re like me, ignore resortwear if you don’t like those colors, and get some daring black or gold sandals to show them off.

You can’t help but look at these sandals, but they look so tough that they might yell back, You lookin’ at me, then barb you in the eye with their studs, grommets and motorcycle embellishments. The supergirly, superfloral spring trend that invariably pops up every year, I just can’t really get down with that.

You’ve seen Rodarte’s 2009 photos on this blog before. I have to admit that I’m dying for a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood’s Rodartes, even if they make me fall like model Abbey Lee. Not his weird white platform fall 2009 handcuff Dorothy diva queens, but the spring ones debuted last year. I would wear these black pretty chaingangs anywhere – I wouldn’t even take them off on the beach!

I also love me a little Christian Siriano, as does seemingly everyone on this blog, even though I’d rather have these in black or fuschia… anything but brown (shudder) although they do look distinguished. Can I get this in a FIERCE sandal version, Christian?

I found these more wearable Jeffrey Campbell Ibiza sandals at a cute boutique called Elements in Berkeley. I couldn’t find the ones with pyramid studs online, but you can find a similar pair with regular studs at David Z for $88.

If you like it a little less black and spiky and a little more along the lines of soft and gold but still splashy with some softer studs, try DVF’s Wicked sandals for $295.

These Anna Sui gladiator wraparound folkies will have the Roman boys falling all over themselves to get at you.

Yes, we know everyone expected the gladiator trend to (someday) die and go away, but here they are again and again. There’s something enduring, easygoing, eyecatching and classic about them that I should have realized from the start when I advised a friend AGAINST buying a pair a season into the trend, thinking they would go away too soon to be worth the high pricetag. Will they be classic and still wearable seasons later, we wondered. The answer was YES.

The knee-high ones might be a bit riskier for long-term wear, but if you can’t afford Anna Sui or Chanel, go with a cheaper pair at Topshop and still look current. It’s been a few seasons so I’d say it’s now fairly safe, if you’ve been scared to rock it thus far. I have been, and I’m going to go have fun with it, even though I’m so late on the bandwagon that I can hardly see it rattle off into the distance anymore.