A mission to find...high heeled knee high gladiator sandals

I see something I want on a celebrity or on the runway, I can't get it out of my head, I must have it...but the problem is, my budget is more Monsoon than Missoni. I do this a lot. Sometimes, I think I even make-up what I want, without actually knowing if it's available for purchase (at any price). The latest mission is to find gladiator sandals, but knee high and with a heel.

The trend for gladiator style sandals is not new. Kate Moss has been doing it for years and it's filtered down and almost saturated the high-street. It's a pretty easy task to find flat strappy sandals in a variety of colour choices and styles (see above). However, I had to be different. I wanted a heel. I don't ever do flat shoes and those in-between 'I'm-not-too-high-but-not-flat-either' are even more impossible for me to walk in. Give me sky-high stilettos and I can do anything, yes, even run. It's long been a joke that I must've been born in high-heel shoes. So, a high heel it is. This suddenly drastically reduced my options, 'but Gwyneth has them' I protest (above) so somebody must make them, and so I find a pair by Balenciaga for £1,025 (below). Hmm, a little out of my budget.

I also then decide (to make it harder), that I'd like them knee high. I want them to look fierce, like they did at the Miu Miu and Balenciaga S/S '08 shows, but teamed with pretty floaty, florals (I like contrasts). I find them (above) by Miu Miu, but it gets worse, they cost £2,155. Madonna then jumps around in scary looking knee high boots in the 4 Minutes video and it's official, I must have knee high gladiators now!

So, today I was a little excited to see ASOS add these to their site (below). They tick all the boxes, although they're not entirely what I envisioned. They're £45 which isn't too bad, so they may just be added to my collection soon . I wish I had other options, but may have to settle with this pair. I find I get so frustrated with having to wait for trends to filter into high-street shops, although that time has drastically reduced in recent years.

Here's a pic of Ashley Olsen looking sensational in perhaps the pair that started my obsession.

(images net-a-porter.com asos.com topshop.com dailymail.co.uk vogue.co.uk shoewawa.com brownsfashion.com)