Summer Footwear - Gladiator!

This is the image that says it ALL to me regarding my favorite thing about summer... sandals!

Ah, the feeling of grass between your well-shod, prettily pedicured toes:

But this year, we have a somewhat sinister development. The near ubiquitous (in NYC, anyway) GLADIATOR SANDAL.

It is ugly. It is aggressive. It is not at all man-friendly.

Yet every pretty young thing in this town is sporting a pair! What is it with these shoes...is it a clever hedge against construction worker wolf whistles?? I think they're sorta cool (we do, afterall, have my dear Nicolas Ghesquiere to thank for this trend), actually, and perhaps I'm just jealous because my stumpy short legs just would not look good in this particular trend and I can't participate. But I'm officially OVER it - let's move on to a new look, ladies.

The ankle-height version in a heel (hello, Christian Louboutin) are somewhat fabulous...

The knee-height brown leather numbers...not so much, unless your legs look this (i.e., impossibly long) in them:


Actually, I'm kind of shocked that I haven't seen them yet on any Christian Siriano-wannabe, boy fashion victims yet... oh, the horror, the horror when and if that day comes!!! I'll keep you posted...