A heel is a very easy way to dress up a sandal. If you are looking to wear sandals at work or for a night out on the town, you don't want to grab a pair of beach flip-flops for your tootsies. No way - it's time to break out the big guns, or as this season's designers would have it, a whimsical and architectural heel that is sure to impress.



Before you start groaning, consider this - heels can be comfortable. That's right. If you get a wedge heel or a thicker heel, you'll barely notice that your feet are somewhat elevated. Besides, isn't feeling sexy comfortable for most of us?

If you are wondering where to find the more showy heels of the season, you'll have to look at a higher end sandal. Besides, you want to make sure that such a lofty perch is built well and will endure the test of the first sidewalk crack it gets stuck in!

If it is a night out on the town and some dancing that you are looking for, make sure to stick to something with a thicker heel as it isn't good for your feet to be using killer dance moves on thin heels. Save these for the dinners out and the patio after. If you plan to be popping up a storm in your sandals, make sure that they have a back strap to hold them in place.

If you are looking to pick up a higher end sandal and can't quite afford the $600-$800 range of the top name brands, don't fret! Shoes may not all be created equal, but sandals are much harder to create differently from one another. For this reason, a sandal costing $75 to $200 isn't really going to be that much different from the extremely high end ones - we're willing to bet you can't even figure out the difference between the two if they are put side by side with labels ripped off. Besides, who exactly is going to see the label that your soles are covering up? Exactly; nobody is going to know the difference!

Getting back to the architectural heel. What exactly does this mean? It means a heel with cutouts, a heel with stature - a heel that looks like the Guggenheim rather than the Met. A heel that looks... designed. Sandals have become the hot item rather than handbags, and its all about the heel on the sandal when it comes to the dressup and salivation factor. The more structured, the better.

If you can't possibly envisage a heel on your sandal, there is hope for you. There are gladiator sandals with strappy good looks, and flat sandals with embellishments that will have you tiptoeing through the tulips just to pick a pair off the proverbial vine. While structured heels may be the it thing, those of you with heelphobia are not completely lost in this season's landscape.