Pierre Hardy gladiator sandals for Gap

Wandered into Gap at Astor Place on the way home on Thursday, just for a look, and came out over $100 the poorer. This is what happens when I leave the house during the day. It was the same in my twenties when I worked at Vogue House. For the uninitiated, it’s one block from Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Regent Street meaning that everything single High street & designer label was a stone’s throw from my desk: I started bringing my lunch from home so I didn’t need to leave the office.

I was thrilled to discover that the next phase of Pierre Hardy’s Design Editions range have hit the shop floor. There are several styles of flat sandals, including these brown leather gladiators, which even though they have a toe post, are both extremely comfortable and very chic. Not cheap at $78, but infinitely preferable to anything else that I’ve seen in at lower or similar price points.For me, the drawback of most gladiators is that they have at least two ankle straps and a plethora of buckles. These are immensely simple with just one strap (much more flattering) & they also have a padded sole which is unusual in this style of shoe. I'm just as pleased with these sandals, as I was with the heavenly black patent platform heels I bought from the pre-Christmas collection.

However Gap might like to address the fact that they have ballsed up the sizing on the boxes. The shoes come delivered with European sizing stamped on the soles, but the American sizing on the boxes is a size out. I wear a UK5.5/Eur 38.5/US8.5, but bought a size 7 in the sandals. It should have been labeled as a size 8. I tried on all the styles, but everything had been wrongly labelled. If you are buying in-store, choose a size smaller than normal.