Shoes without anything under the arch aren’t a new phenomenon; I’ve seen brands as elegant and high-end as Yves Saint Laurent do it in various ways, but those particular pieces were obviously not meant for widespread consumption. Not only were they prohibitively expensive, but they were postured as extremely special shoes that one might wear to a particular event, but not to just any old party.

On the other hand, the Jeffrey Campbell Benched Cut-Out Platform strikes me as nearly…casual. They’re made to be sold at mall stores like Urban Outfitters to regular girls without anyplace in particular to go, except they’re not a full shoe.

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When a pair of shoes is as sought-after as the Isabel Marant Sneaker Wedges, it’s only a matter of time until the copycats come out of the woodwork. In footwear, there are a number of brands that seemingly make their entire living on the coattails of more expensive brands, and in this case, Ash is one of those brands. The Ash Bowie Sneaker Wedges changed very little from their French inspiration.

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J.Crew Viv Pumps, $298 via J.Crew

Despite the fact that I no longer work in a traditional office, I remember very well how difficult it was to strike the right balance with workplace footwear. You don’t want to be too sexy, but you also don’t want to be too dowdy or casual. Color and comfort are both concerns, as is the ability to add a bit of your own personality without stepping over dress code boundaries. Most importantly, though, they have to be the kind of shoes that you can wear multiple times per week and with a variety of different ensembles. That’s a tough list of requirements to meet, but the J.Crew Viv Pumps just might do it all for a little less than $300.

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Giuseppe Zanotti Metallic Leather Wedges, $895 via Net-a-Porter

Back in October, we talked about the first pair of heelless Giuseppe Zanotti shoes that showed up online, a gold d’Orsay pair that were sleek but also kind of terrifying. Just in time for vacation season, the Giuseppe Zanotti Metallic Leather Wedges are here to meet all of your warm-weather heelless shoe needs.

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Christian Louboutin Highness Pumps, $1075 via Net-a-Porter

I got into an interesting conversation with a group of female friends yesterday – are heels ever really, truly comfortable? For the overwhelming majority of women, I don’t think high heels ever are. Sure, most of us might be able to endure a couple of hours at a party, and a lot of us might assure our friends that our heels are great, but the women who actually feel that way are few and far between. I’ve only ever known one such woman in person; everyone else, after a few cocktails, is willing to admit that heels are actually totally heinous in a lot of ways. But they’re just so pretty!

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Giuseppe Zanotti Mangrove Snake Peep Toe Pumps: Were $750, now $375 via Net-a-Porter

As you likely know by now, when Net-a-Porter has a sale, the site adds new products and takes additional discounts off existing sale items every Monday. That makes for some lucky finds after a few weeks, and today I have scoured the 11 pages of sale shoes to find the best bang for your buck: the Giuseppe Zanotti Mangrove Snake Peep Toe Pumps.

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Rosamosario Suede Mules, $1140 via Net-a-Porter

If you followed along with our footwear coverage of the various Spring 2012 fashion weeks, you probably noticed something a tad troubling – the fashion industry, in what I can only call not one of its finer moments, has decided to try and make mules happen again. Sadly, I don’t mean the animal, although I’d rather have an actual mule around the house (good for carrying cases of Diet Coke home from the grocery store!) than wear a pair of mule shoes.

For the uninitiated (or just those who are too young to remember these shoes being popular previously), the Rosamosario Suede Mules are a good example of the New Mule’s standard features, in addition to the traditional backlessness – high heel, no support, little in the way of material to keep you from breaking an ankle. Some of them also feature enormous platforms, like this one, to make you look like a stripper while you’re in the process of breaking said ankle.

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Miu Miu Sequined Leather Pumps, $890 via Net-a-Porter

I’m a huge Miu Miu fangirl, as you all know, and I’m always prepared to slobber all over whatever new Miu Miu might land on the Net-a-Porter new arrivals page. And don’t get me wrong, I do really, really like the Miu Miu Sequined Leather Pumps. I like that they’re a little bit like the disco version of Dorothy’s ruby slippers. I like that the sequins are a departure from Miu Miu’s normal glitter shenanigans. But…this heel height. THIS HEEL HEIGHT. It’s giving me anxiety.

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Moschino Cheap and Chic Wet-a-Porter Wellies, $170 via Net-a-Porter

I love a good play on words, and the name of the Moschino Cheap and Chic Wet-a-Porter Wellies is just so meta. The booties were custom-designed for Net-a-Porter and feature a take on the site’s name, which is itself a take on the French term for “ready to wear” clothing, pret-a-porter. How adorable, right?

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Images via Style.com

New York City has been a dreary, no-fun mess for days. Rainy, windy, cold, you name it – Sergio Rossi’s Spring 2012 shoes could have come along at a better time to perk me up. Maybe if I focus really hard on them and not on what’s going on outside of my windows, I can actually make the weather less awful. Mind over matter, and all that. Footwear over matter!

If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to settle for gazing upon these shoes, which seem to be warming me through the reflected glow of their cheery optimism. While these designs aren’t exactly my style, Rossi deserves recognition for his unending ability to pick a theme and stick to it in big ways. If you’ve got a big tropical vacation coming up in a few months, you may want to pack one of these pairs.

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