I want to love summer. Pool time. Beach season. Easy breezy attitudes. Dry rosés and barbecue.
But the truth is, I hate it. Summer is stifling when it’s hot and humid and you have a professional dress code to adhere to Monday thru Friday. The pool is nice, but with kids it isn’t always relaxing. When was the last time I went to the beach? The answer would be Hawaii. In December.
Easy breezy? Congress is in high dysfunction mode and summer camp is harder to prep kids for than school.
But one of the factors I hate most is my summer casual wardrobe. I don’t find shorts to be very flattering. It’s hard to find summery dresses that fall between too girly and too soccer mommy. And I hate every pair of sandals on the market.
Which is odd because you know I love shoes. I have tried and tried to find acceptable summer footwear. I can’t do flat sandals, but I don’t always want a heel on the weekends or super hot days. Please no ankle cuffs. (I don’t like to look shackled, though I do like how gladiators look on other women.) Flip flops should be reserved for the pool and/or beach. Flatforms are out of the question.
(As my friend Hillary tweeted yesterday: “I don’t care if Coco Chanel came down from the heavens and told me to get flatforms, I will never ever (ever) buy them.”)
But I haven’t given up yet. I’m hopeful that my “friends I haven’t met yet” at the Shoe Hive can help rescue me. In the need for some retail therapy this sticky, concussed (still) day, I ordered a pair of sandals (pewter, simple, low wedge) from them that just might hit the mark.
And if they do, then please, someone host a BBQ. I promise to bring good wine.
the chelsea chronicles 
i hate flatforms. i mean, i barely like wedges, though i just recently bought 2 pair. first time for everything
The wedges have to be high for me to like them. I have a cute pair of wedge espadrilles I got last year but sometimes they just feel like too much on the weekends.
Hey, did my gladiator sandals win you over (http://www.6pm.com/kickers-pepita-3-brown-multi, mine are black) when I came to save the day? I generally dislike sandals, too. I can like some flip-flops, but they are too casual. I’ll have to mull this Chelsea conundrum over. Um, being the vintage, hard-soft combo, non-trendy gal I am, I have no idea what flatform are. Inform me!
My achy head and I definitely spent some time thinking about your gladiators! “Flatforms” are like platforms that extend the whole shoe. So sort of an elevated flat but with no pitch. I think it looks like cinder blocks on the feet…
Being the vintage gal, I should have known. flatforms are just the modern version of what my mom wore in the 1970s. I actually like them (though I own none), but they go with my look just fine. A pair of skinny bootcut Levis, a tunic, and a pair of them might look lovely…
You probably COULD pull them off, but your look is uniquely offbeat in an irreplaceable way!
Have you tried French Sole/ New York?
I’ve never actually bought a pair of French Soles but I’ve admired their flats in the past. And I don’t normally do flats!