Buying Nude Slingbacks comes down to a few checks you can do from the product page. Everything else is preference. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. A pointed toe adds visual length but takes half a size. 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: Cole Haan's Women's Hansell Slingback Pumps at $90, and byfar.com's Yasha Summer Tan Nappa Leather Slingback Pump at $384. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. A pointed toe adds visual length but takes half a size. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. 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, byfar.com's Evelyn Black Nappa Leather Slingback Pump ($258) 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 12 brands, $78 to $445, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Vici's Paris Calling Polka Dot Slingback Kitten Heel at $78 is the low-risk way in, and joseph-fashion.com's Cleo Patent Leather Slingbacks at $445 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. On nude slingbacks 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: pay for the thing that touches your body and economise on the thing that sits on top of it.