The short answer on Sam Edelman Kia Block Heel: pick one anchor piece, keep the palette to two colours, and let the shoes decide how formal the whole thing reads. One piece should lead and the rest should stay quiet; two competing pieces read as an accident. Proportion does more than colour: volume on top wants something narrow below, and the reverse. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is heel height, toe shape and how the weight sits. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Show Me Your Mumu's Steve Madden Beki Heel ~ Bone Leather at $130, and Lisa Says Gah's Hoxton Heel - Ivy at $198. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. A pointed toe adds visual length but takes half a size. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Match the heel to the hem, then stop thinking about it. From the second group, Show Me Your Mumu's Seychelles Willow Heel ~ Natural Raffia/Tan Leather ($169) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, heels, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 heels here from 13 brands, $64 to $395, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Gymshark's Gymshark Summer Pump Cover Short Sleeve Hoodie - Iron Blue at $64 is the low-risk way in, and Staud's SEBASTIAN SLINGBACK at $395 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. On sam edelman kia block heel specifically: the difference between the top and the bottom of this list is real but smaller than the price gap suggests. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: buy the one you can picture using this week, not the one you are saving for later.