Shoe blog

The perfect gladiator

I know I’ve written about gladiators before, trying to find a pair that was both good looking and relatively inexpensive, because, let’s face, my shoe budget is not on the level of Gwyneth Paltrow or Lindsay Lohan or numerous other stars who’ve been spotted around town in these Giuseppe Zanotti stunners (about $650 at Zappos):

No, I’m more on a Nine West budget here (especially with some recent fashion expenses that I shall leave nameless for now).  Speaking of Nine West! It seems that they have made my perfect gladiator sandal and then they promptly got sold out of it:

Seriously, I can’t find this multicolor version of the Nine West “Jobilyn” for the life of me–although I can find it in about 12 other color combos, most of which are on sale for a little over $50 at Endless. Oh! Le sigh.

But then, the gladiator-shod gods smiled down at me as they made me discover this:

Palladium “Key Largo” sandal, rich in buckles and studs and overall gladiator-y goodness. I can’t decide between the pewter version or the orange version–they’re both very appealing, I must say! And only about $80 at Shoes.com or Endless (shipping included):

I’ll probably go with metallic (metallic is the new neutral, remember?), as I can probably accessorize it better. But I still love the orange! Bonus points: Palladium is a brand known for comfort, and I can already see that, unlike its cousins with ultra-thin, slippery soles, this “Key Largo is seriously padded. Score!