Dear Miss Meghan, how do we deal with the clackety summer sandals?

Read my answer in the New York Daily News:

Summer’s blinged-out sandals are ear candy, too

The hottest footwear for the summer is totally blinged out. Thongs are bejeweled and bedazzled, affixed with bells and whistles, and sandals are clunkily buckled up.

“From a trend perspective, accoutrements, bling, tassels, all this stuff hanging off shoes has become hotter and hotter in the last two years for summer,” says Meghan Cleary, shoe expert (missmeghan.com). “I think it’s fun, it’s a little musical and a real light-hearted way to be for summer.”

But as you strut your stuff to work through your marble lobby with your jewel-studded flip-flops, or head down a flight of subway stairs while rocking a pair of jingly-jangly sandals, you might be turning a few more heads than you bargained for. Because all that shoe bling is loud – not just visually, fashionably loud, but aurally, heel-thwacking loud.

“Any time you get into a mule kind of shoe, it’s going to make some noise,” says Cleary. “You’re going to end up clomping around a bit like a horse, whether the heel is high or low.”

For Cleary, whose favorite pair of sandals is a clackity pair of Lucite-heeled Vince Camutos, giving up on noisy sandals is not an option.

Her advice? Embrace the noise!

“It’s a great way to announce your presence in a room, without having to say anything,” says Cleary. “If you’re single, the guys will definitely notice you because they’re forced to pay attention. So it’s a great conversation starter. Any guy that’s got half a bone of humor in his body will ask, ‘What’s the story with those shoes?'”

But if you do find yourself a tad embarrassed by the racket your shoes are making this summer and you refuse to give up your loud sandals, here are a few muffling tips:

“Avoid surfaces that are amplifying,” says Cleary. That means staying away from marble, tile and lacquer. “Wood will absorb the sound a little better,” says Cleary, “but not much.”

And since New York City is lacking in carpeted surfaces, you can also test out your toe-gripping strength to prevent your heels from clacking behind you.

“With the mules and flip-flops, you basically have to clench your entire foot to grip the sandal so that it doesn’t depart from your foot,” says Cleary. “You have to go into that really intense toe grip but, even then, it’s really hard.”

So unless you’re bent on giving your toes a real workout, it’s probably best, when embracing this summer’s hottest sandals, to embrace the noise they bring, too. You never know whose head they’ll turn.