Adi by Jeffrey Campbell

Black Gold: Jeffrey Campbell's Adi is a disco pump that embraces the '70s trend.

Disco chic meets a continuing interest in neutrals when the Adi by Jeffrey Campbell steps out. Like many things Jeffrey, Adi is subversively neutral—its upper is less demure beige than an ephemeral, shimmering gold. Caught in the light, she shines with rainbow hues that form and evaporate with the passing of a sunbeam. Adi is roller skate chic without the wheels.

Of course, disco's an easy theme to conjure up during a resurgence of the fashionable Nixon-Ford-Carter years, but if you want to cite inspirational moments, let's talk oil. Between OPEC in '73 and the Iranian Revolution in '79, the seventies were less about dancing and more about existential, automotive dread. Adi captures both with her decadent, tall, aggressive heel (five-and-a-half inches) and her petrochemical sheen over bright gold straps. Love and loathing, riche et louche. With our own oil crisis to contend with (thanks, BP) and a new, if differently motivated, set of uprisings in the Middle East, the Adi seems altogether more relevant than perhaps even Mr. Campbell anticipated. (Nothing like a little gallows tangent, eh?)

Flimsy analogies aside, Adi's also just one attractive piece of footwear. The finish on these sky pumps makes for a versatile going-out shoe. A neutral base that hypercolors in the light does not a difficult shoe make. The height (buffered by a two-and-a-half platform) thrusts everything pleasingly upward (the heel is substantial enough to avoid gratuitous tottering).

Gold is a good compliment for the marine stripes dominating dresses and tops. Pair with stripes and gold hoop earrings, Ray-Ban aviators and perhaps some bangles, and you are all set for a summer cruise down memory lane. Or should we say Gasoline Alley?