On warm summer nights when its time to go out and dress up, it has usually been standard practice to wear open toed heels. Most women love the idea of wearing cute heels out but the problem lies in the end of the night when most feet buckle under the strain of being in heels all night, especially when going to a dance club. There are the odd heels which are fairly comfortable to wear and look stylish but these are usually very tough to find.

An emerging trend in summer elegance for footwear is with gladiator sandals. A pair of well worn gladiator sandals offer the comfort of a pair of well used beach flip flops. Without the strain on your feet that heels seem to produce. A woman can still look elegant in comfortable footwear. They are after all sandals, so they are light, breezy and offer great support for dancing, walking or even a day at the office.

My favorite pair of gladiator sandals for a night out are my Valentino floral gladiator sandals. They are genuine leather and the most comfortable pair of evening wear shoes I own. I love the leather flowers and the attention to detail is staggering. The two blooming flowers are hand crafted and look beautiful along the easily fastened strap. The shoes are great to wear with a nice summer dress and I get complimented on them all the time.

I purchased them when they were new so they were a little expensive. But like most shoes I see I just had to have them. When they first debuted you could get a pair of Valentino sandals for around $700 however now my sandals can be found at online retailers for 1/3 of the price. The price of this quality footwear is worth it for the aggravation you will be spared from uncomfortable open toed heels and cheaper gladiator scandal knockoffs. In this case the genuine article is worth the extra expense for style and comfort.

Valentino has a number of other gladiator scandals in different styles as well if you are looking for something a little different. All are very fashionable and current with todays style. Stars such as Kourtney Kardashian and Miley Cyrus can both be seen wearing similar style sandals with more and more celebrities adopting the style every day. The gladiator sandal trend is here to stay so get your own pair before they are all sold out!