If you haven’t yet joined the gladiator sandal trend, Aldo has just provided the perfect excuse to do so.
The brand has just introduced Hastina, a 4.5 inch high heeled gladiator sandal with a bone suede upper.
The sexy gladiator has a 15 inch caged shaft and it ties up with laces. Hastina from Aldo can be found on Amazon.com with prices ranging from $38.18 to $92.75. Sizes are becoming limited so be quick!
Check out more pictures of these shoes below.
Flowers and shoes. Could there be a better combination to make a woman happy? Money and diamonds aside, that is.
Fortunately flowers and shoes are hot right now: one of the biggest shoe trends we’ve spotted for 2016 is the floral pump. We’ve included some of the best floral heels we’ve seen this season in this post. The links are to Zappos, our affiliate partner.
A pointed toe, smooth leather upper and d’Orsay cut-away side make this one of our favorite shoes of the season even before getting to the fabulous Fracture Floral pattern. This 3.74 inch heel is called Elvia by French Connection and retails for $125 via Zappos.
Steve Madden gets in on the floral action with a flower-covered version of his popular Varcityy pump. This 4 inch heel with suede upper is available for $89.95 from Zappos with free shipping and returns.
Finally, Guess is also in on the horticultural act with a light floral hidden-platform pump. Honora is a 4.5 inch, patent leather peep-toe heel with a 1 inch platform. This gorgeous shoe retails for $99 online at Zappos.
Sometimes shoe trends are obvious, but this isn’t one of them. At least I didn’t think that purple lace up heels would suddenly become a “thing” until they did. Fortunately, the strappy fuchsia look has become a major trend for 2016 and all the shoes catching the wave are fabulous.
Thanks to our affiliate partnership with Zappos, we’re able to present 4 of the best purple lace up high heels that are on-trend for 2016. The links will take you to the Zappos website which offers fast, free shipping and returns (sales are to US customers only).
Topping the charts of our fantastic fuchsia beauties is Sandalia, by Steve Madden. Sandalia is not just beautiful but it is also practical. The shoe’s structured real-leather side straps provide strong support for the foot, allowing the laces to shine in their own right as a detail but without having to pull them tight to prevent yourself from falling out.
A 4 inch heel, leather upper, padded insole and clever design all mean that this heel is a winner in its category. Comfortable, stylish and just plain fun, Sandalia is available via Zappos for $129.95.
If you prefer a closed toe look, then Sam Edelman’s Dayna is what we think you should be considering. Once again the lace up straps here are mainly decorative: this 4 inch pump in purple kid suede leather has a pointy toe and over-sized heel-up to fit securely to your foot. With a small, sneaky d’Orsay cut, these purple Sam Edelman stilettos can be shopped via Zappos for $120 with free shipping and returns.
Dolce Vita’s impressive entry into the purple sandals list comes courtesy of Hazeley, a bold stiletto sandal with an orchid suede leather upper. With Hazeley the laces do more of the work to hold you securely in the shoe, allowing the sexy open arch to out itself as an equally compelling feature.
The fabulous Hazeley by Dolce Vita in orchid suede is available now for $120. Shipping is free.
Ending where we start, we have a second purple high heel from Steve Madden to round out our collection of 4 show-stopping purple stilettos for 2016.
Natila has a fushia upper made of genuine nubuck leather and sits atop a gentler 3.5 inch heel (measured on a size 9). The single strap across the vamp of the shoe is very much on trend, while the slingback strap holds these heels firmly in place.
The real fun comes with the tie-up ankle lace which you can arrange to suit your own style. While it is a head-turner in its own right, the ankle lace is purely decorative: it can be removed for a more classical look when the occasion demands.
Natlia retails from Zappos for $89.95 with free shipping and returns.
If you want to get *really* high on heels then there’s a simple answer: platforms! Combined with a high heel, a platform can add many inches of height but without the pain from a really high spike stiletto.
The key to these awesome leather ankle-strap stilettos is indeed in the platform. While the heel is 7.9 inches high, a 2.4 inch platform makes a net rise of a manageable 5.5 inches.
The platforms featured here are available right now at Milanoo via this link.
Platforms are just fine with celebrity socialite Paris Hilton who is a devotee of the stepped-up look, and the comfort that platforms bring. Paris has confessed her love for platforms on her official website, saying:
I love front platforms. The trend is amazing because it makes shoes more comfortable while keeping the height to make your legs look longer and leaner.
But not everyone is a fan of platforms. Those who are against the trend even include legendary high heels designer Manolo Blahnik. Manolo once confessed that he “can’t stand platforms.”
Judging by the number of platforms on the market though, Manolo might be alone in thinking that.
Every year about this time we seem to run a story asking whether the shoe trend for cork high heels has returned. Perhaps it never really goes away.
Anyhow, the inspiration for raising the issue this year comes from Tommy Hilfiger in the form of the Edessa cork-soled high heel sandal. This new season heel has a strappy leather upper and a 4.5 inch cork block heel, on a 0.75 inch platform.
UPDATE, MARCH 2018: these cork heels from 2015 are no longer available. However cork continues to be in vogue for heels still. You can check out the range of cork high heels available through our Zappos affiliate link for the latest cork heels. 
If two leading shoe designers are doing it, then we think that makes it a shoe trend. The trend we’re talking about is single sole (no platform) glitter pumps. The designers who are getting into the festive spirit with this blinged-out footwear include Jimmy Choo and Casadei, with both labels glittering up their most famous shoes for the occasion.
Jimmy Choo’s sparkly number is the label’s iconic 5 inch Anouk pump in a champagne fabric with a delicate leopard-skin effect. The Choo glitter high heel is available from Choo’s own website for $625.
Meanwhile, Cesare Casadei has plenty of his own bling going on with his own iconic pump. The shoe in question is the Blade heel, featuring Casadei’s engineering masterpiece of a 5 inch stiletto.
This laminated, mirror-leather pump has been decked out with a glitter finish and is available now from Casadei’s website for $750.
The cool element of this new boot is all in the title of our article. Yes, this is not only an awesome leather boot with genuine fur details, but this boot has 7 removable pom-poms to style any way you like!
Called Bergamasco by Yes, the boot has a 3 1/2″ heel and a 1/2″ platform. It costs $174.95 from SoleStruck and is available in wine, brown and black. You can see the removable pom poms in the picture below.
Bergamasco has been featuring in the advertising on the SoleStruck website, which suggests we’re not alone in thinking it is a hit. And SoleStruck is good at picking these trends. This year the site celebrated 10 years of retail, all dedicated to its stated mission to “rid the world of ugly shoes.”
Bergamasco is available from SoleStruck for $174.95 with free worldwide shipping.
For spotters of shoe trends, the latest look to watch out for is minimalist sandals. We’re starting to see a whole bunch of simple stiletto sandals with a minimal number of narrow straps emerging as a “must have” look.
For examples, look no further than Giuseppe Zanotti. Zanotti’s bringing it to the table with both his amazing 4.75 inch gold mini platform sandal above (Zappos Couture, $650) and the rhinestone-highlighted 3.5 inch sandals below (Zappos Couture, $795).
You can view the whole Giuseppe Zanotti collection at Zappos Couture.
What’s hot this season? Skyscraper height, block heels, chucky soles and metallic shades. These heels combine all those elements to become a staple style statement.
In stunning black and silver, the peep-toe futuristic beauties take any outfit from mediocre to marvellous. A perfect accessory to an LBD or ideal for adding colour to a pair of plain jeans, with the Frankie Metallic Trim Ankle Band Platform Block Heel a girl can’t go wrong. Get your pair from Boohoo.com, £30.
There’s little doubt that this is a massive high heel shoe trend and it’s hot as hell. The tricky thing is to precisely identify what it is in words!
Doing the best I can, I will describe it was the “V-shaped, cutout vamp, mini-d’Orsay pump” trend thing. Sorry if that just sounds like blathering.
Basically we’re talking about a V-shape being created between the front and the back of a pump for a brief period. This reveals the arch of the foot on the instep (just like a d’Orsay) and mirrors the effect on the outside of the foot.
<UPDATE, February 2018: this post has been updated below because these heels are no longer available for purchase.>
I might not be making much sense as usual, so I’ll let a couple of examples speak for themselves. Above is the 5 inch Trina in black suede by L.A.M.B. The curvy sides are sexy in the extreme, and this single-sole leather pump sits atop a 5 inch thin heel.
This shoe was available in August 2014 for $264.99 via heels but has now sold out and is not available for purchase anywhere.
Sorry about the incoherence but I hope you see what I mean.
The same on-trend look can also be achieved with a Steve Madden pump, but at less than half the price and with a more moderate 4 inch heel. The shoe above is the new Varcityy stiletto. The upper of this heel comes in three suede colors (blush – pictured above, blue and black).
This fashionable high heel was available for $99.95 in August 2014 via Zappos but is now sold out.
