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Summer's Hottest Sandals Keep Fashionistas Cool and Comfortable

Ballet dancer Kelly Mackie, 19, said July 10, 2012 that chunky wooden heels like hers are the next big thing.
Ballet dancer Kelly Mackie, 19, said July 10, 2012 that chunky wooden heels like hers are the next big thing.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

WEST VILLAGE — Upper West Side resident Carla Posner usually walks the city in heels, but the recent scorching temperature sent her searching for a pair of flat sandals. 

"I'm looking for something to help me maintain my look: simple, stylish, elegant," the 46-year-old women's clothing store manager said as she tried on sandals with polished gold details at the 71 Eighth Ave. location of the cheekily named city shoe chain Shoegasm

Women strolled the streets of the ever-stylish West Village and Meatpacking District recently, hunting out new sandals and showing off their recent finds. 

Shoegasm manager Carlos Liriano, 26, said flat, minimalist sandals are one of the biggest trends of the season. 

Flats are all the rage in summer 2012.
Flats are all the rage in summer 2012.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

"Right now everyone wants a simple, open sandal with style," he said. "With this weather, [women] don't want something that's on their foot too much." 

The previous two summers' gladiator sandal trend is finally "faded," Liriano said, and gold details and bright colors have taken over. 

"This season, it has to be colorful," he said. 

Westchester resident Susan Arnold, who was checking out Shoegasm's selection, said flat sandals felt right to her because she wears flat boots in cooler weather. 

"Flat is in style, and I need something stylish to wear with dresses this summer," she said. 

Greenpoint resident Waichi Yeung, a 32-year-old creative director, was trying on wedge sandals in the shop.

"I don't follow trends," she said, "I just do my own thing." 

On the High Line, Financial District resident Day Bishop soaked up the sun in a pair of tan sandals with a cork footbed and low, square gold-wrapped heel. 

"For me, it's nice to have a little bit of a heel," said Bishop, 47. "It makes it more comfortable to walk around the city." 

Nina Skorupski, a Long Island native who teaches English in France, showed off a coral-colored pedicure in flat silver sandals. 

"I like metallic tones, and I thought metallic would be more muted than brown or black," said Skorupski, 23. "It matches everything."

She said wedge espadrilles are all the rage in France now and predicted they'll be big here soon, too. 

Ballet dancer Kelly Mackie — a 19-year-old who was wearing chunky wooden heels and snapping photos of a friend posing in metallic stretch pants — also took a stab at sandal trendspotting. 

"Seventies-style chunky heels are coming back hardcore," she said.