Did you check out my segment on the CBS Early show? We shot live from Los Angeles which meant a 3:15 AM call time for me. Yes that is an amazing amount about undereye concealer holding me up!!!

Dear Miss Meghan, how do we deal with the clackety summer sandals?

Read my answer in the New York Daily News:

Summer’s blinged-out sandals are ear candy, too

The hottest footwear for the summer is totally blinged out. Thongs are bejeweled and bedazzled, affixed with bells and whistles, and sandals are clunkily buckled up.

“From a trend perspective, accoutrements, bling, tassels, all this stuff hanging off shoes has become hotter and hotter in the last two years for summer,” says Meghan Cleary, shoe expert (missmeghan.com). “I think it’s fun, it’s a little musical and a real light-hearted way to be for summer.”

But as you strut your stuff to work through your marble lobby with your jewel-studded flip-flops, or head down a flight of subway stairs while rocking a pair of jingly-jangly sandals, you might be turning a few more heads than you bargained for. Because all that shoe bling is loud - not just visually, fashionably loud, but aurally, heel-thwacking loud.

“Any time you get into a mule kind of shoe, it’s going to make some noise,” says Cleary. “You’re going to end up clomping around a bit like a horse, whether the heel is high or low.”

For Cleary, whose favorite pair of sandals is a clackity pair of Lucite-heeled Vince Camutos, giving up on noisy sandals is not an option.

Her advice? Embrace the noise!

“It’s a great way to announce your presence in a room, without having to say anything,” says Cleary. “If you’re single, the guys will definitely notice you because they’re forced to pay attention. So it’s a great conversation starter. Any guy that’s got half a bone of humor in his body will ask, ‘What’s the story with those shoes?’”

But if you do find yourself a tad embarrassed by the racket your shoes are making this summer and you refuse to give up your loud sandals, here are a few muffling tips:

“Avoid surfaces that are amplifying,” says Cleary. That means staying away from marble, tile and lacquer. “Wood will absorb the sound a little better,” says Cleary, “but not much.”

And since New York City is lacking in carpeted surfaces, you can also test out your toe-gripping strength to prevent your heels from clacking behind you.

“With the mules and flip-flops, you basically have to clench your entire foot to grip the sandal so that it doesn’t depart from your foot,” says Cleary. “You have to go into that really intense toe grip but, even then, it’s really hard.”

So unless you’re bent on giving your toes a real workout, it’s probably best, when embracing this summer’s hottest sandals, to embrace the noise they bring, too. You never know whose head they’ll turn.

Heyhey everyone!

It’s summer and I am in (gasp!) flip flops in the garden dreaming up new Stiletto Strategies (C) for you all — as well as focusing my eye on some Celeb shoe-cam mishaps.

We are developing some exciting new things for Fall so until then, check out some of our most popular columns:

– Bridal Shoe Series
– Celeb shoe-cam’s
– SATC Pink Carpet coverage

– interview with Michael Patrick King

– my scandalous Stiletto Blog Post on the Huffington Post.

I will be back soon, so until then keep pulling in your core and rocking the four inch platforms. Or the flat gladiator sandals.

xo
Meg

I get this question a lot and wanted to share a new scholarship if you are interested in learning about footwear design: TwoTen is doing a scholarship at the super prestigious Ars Sutoria in Milano. If you looooove shoes and want to learn how to design, you need to apply right now

Remeber there are a lot of American shoe designers who are beginning their careers in Milano — Nicole Brundage, Courtney Crawford, Carmen Ho . . . just to name a few.

Part deux of my Bridal Shoes series, I want to talk to you brides to be about comfort on your big day. Please do Miss Meghan, and yourself, a giant favor and actually WEAR your bridal shoes around your house or apartment for a few days in a row before your wedding day.

Do not slip them on your feet for the first time the morning of your wedding – this is a recipe for dis-aster. And no one likes disaster on the day of wedding-ness. No one.

So once you’ve decided what shoes to wear, pick three days in a week where you will be at home doing some otherwise mundane task – vacuuming, reorganizing your closet, or kvetching at your fiancé, and don your wedding shoes. Not only will you put a little bounce in your step as you buzz around the house, and no doubt will also send you into a bridal reverie, you will simultaneously identify potential trouble spots, and break them in.

Comfort Tip 1
If you are wearing leather shoes, all leather, spritz your shoes down with a mist of water to get them a little damp before you put them on. Wear them until they are dry. This will activate leather’s natural organic give and let them form to your foot.

Comfort Tip 2
Tailor your shoes just like a suit. Identify any area that is the slightest bit painful or gives a rub – this will be a major source of pain after 6 hours of getting married, dining, dancing. So let’s prevent the pain shall we? For an area inside the shoes where it rubs, take a bit of Dr. Scholls For Her (DSFH) moleskein foam and stick it to the inside of the shoe. This will head off any potential blistering. You can use moleskin for back of the heel try and for the entire length of the shoe use DSFH open toe insoles—they have a soft velvety side and a massaging gel – you can use in them in other shoes and they will not ruin the insides of your special wedding shoes either like other insoles.

Comfort Tip 3
If you are wearing ballet flats – please put an insole in – I know it seems like they should be totally comfortable but do not succumb to the ballet flat myth. Instead pop in a DSFH 16-hour insole. These are lavender and fabric and very cushy. (All are available at your local drugstore)

So in answer to Ester’s question, yes you can be comfortable in your wedding shoes. Just take a little time for some preventative measures and I will see you on the dance floor whirling about with a smile on your face, as a bride should be!

Dear readers,

I have been getting an increasing amount of inquiries about shoes for the big day — about color, heel height, comfort, you name it. So many questions I am going to make a little Ask Miss Meghan BRIDAL SERIES to answer you all.

Hannah wrote in this week:

“I bought a non-traditional but very pretty dress in ‘celestial yellow.’ I am shopping for some mid-length heels but I am not sure — should my shoes match my dress? I will definitely need to get them dyed and I am not sure if I will be able to find the exact match. Is it okay to wear something neutral like a beige or black, or would it be best to try to match the dress? Also, it is an evening wedding if that matters in the shoe selection process.”

First, let’s debunk some common myths:

NO – your shoes do not have to match your dress
NO – you do not have to wear white, satin shoes
NO – you do not have to wear heels
NO – you do not have to be in pain on your wedding day

Ok good. Now I am really going to turn your idea of what a bridal shoe should be on it’s head. Instead of thinking about colors and heel heights– think about what mood you want to be in for your wedding day. Elegant? Funky? Casual? Retro? Go with shoes that have something extra for your big day — an extra layer of elegance, a beautiful bauble or two, or a really fun COLOR.

Hannah has a celestial yellow dress, which sounds gorgeous. I personally love the idea of a color other than white for a wedding dress.

What about a gorgeous metallic? a beauitful nude-gold or a sparkling silver are both good options here. An elegant, strappy sandal platinum Stiletto from 9West,
, gorgeously simple completely flat sandals from Giuseppe, or a peep-toe mid-heel?

Or try something totally revolutionary and wear the “something blue” on your feet electric blue flats?

IF, after you checked all these out, and think maybe you should just do a dyeable to be safe, the only dyeables worth dye-ing are Ninas. They have a myriad of styles ranging from traditional to more hipster and they do not look like the cheesy dyeables of yore. Try these, the Electra.

Two and a half-inch heels which is a very manageable heel height for most women, and a very classic D’orsay style. The dyeable shoe store people will help you with dyeing as well and they ship anywhere in the world, and stock a huge variety of sizes and widths.

Let me know what you think, and look for some more bridal shoe advice next week when I talk about strategies for comfort on the big day.

xo

Miss Meghan

*Online shoe shopping tip: if you are not sure of your size, order two pairs and try on at home, most shoe shopping sites have free shipping on returns so you can simply return the ones that don’t fit.

Dear Miss Meghan,

What’s the story with flesh-colored shoes? I see them on a lot of celebs on the Red Carpet — but don’t shoes have to match some part of your outfit?. Is it ok to wear a shoe that blends in with your skin? What’s the deal?

– Genevieve, Redford, MI

Dear Genevieve,

My dear! You have stumbled upon a stylist’s best secret. Heavy hitter stylists like L’Wren Scott (who has her very own line of to-die-for stilettos with Christian Louboutin that make me weep - see the first pic below) put celebs in pumps that match their skin tone to elongate the silhouette and put the focus on the dress and the celeb. Wearing flesh-colored shoes creates an unbroken line so the eye travels upward towards the dress and the face. Definitely something to try when you have a special evening and you want to create a look, or where you might be photographed, say a wedding or other special occasion. Go for a pump that is plain and has very little ornamentation to achieve this look. Let me know how it goes!

xo Miss Meg