Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, And now do you like my hat?

Manolo says, there is much exemplary Fashion Week fashion blogging going on at the Almost the Girl and the Fashion Tribes sites. At both places you will find not only the excellent analysis, but also the links to other place worth your time.

Manolo says, the Manolo he cannot tell you how many dozens of his internet friends have sent him links to this video.

It is the very reason music and video and music videos were invented. Genius!

Manolo says, the Manolo’s most recent column for the Express of the Washington Post it is now available for the downloading at their website. Today, the Manolo he discusses the “hip” shoes for the man.

Dear Manolo,

Can you recommend a pair of hip shoes for a downtown sort of guy?

Robert

It is no secret that the Manolo he loves the shoes, but it is perhaps less well known that the Manolo he disapproves of the “hip” shoes for the men.

The “hip” shoe, it is the lamentable trend, with its gaudy colors, and its too-square-or-too-pointy toe, and the ridiculous exotic leathers like the iguana, or the ostrich, or the alley cat.

If it is your desire to look like the Argentine tango pimp then by all means wear the hip shoe.

However, if you wish to be taken seriously, as the adult man should naturally wish to be, then you should remain on the side of tradition.

Where the fashion for the men is concerned, the Manolo he is the traditionalist. Men should wear well-polished, good quality feetwear, which should distinguish itself not with the outré color, or the hand-tooled cat leather, but with the high quality of the material and the workmanship, and with the classical, elegant line of the shoe itself.

Thus the Manolo he would recommend to his “downtown” friend the black monkstrap shoe from the Bally called the Breda.

The monkstrap shoe it is the ever so slightly eccentric shoe. Indeed there is the faintest whiff of the mystery about the man who wears the monkstrap. This man he is not the uptight man of business, instead he is free from such mundane concerns, and yet there is still the admirable personal restraint. He is slightly old-fashioned, but in only the best sense, as being one who does not abandon tradition at the first blush of the new.

Manolo says, here is the beautiful, high-heeled peep toe from the Pollini with the crystals and the geometric cutouts. Not only is it most attractive, but it is on the sale, nearly 70% off of the usual price, the savings of almost $250 of the American dollars!

Manolo says, this episode it was the great improvement over the previous episode, the one with the hideous skaters costumes.

The theme for the show, the inspiration, it is the excellent one, as it gives us the chance to see how the designers they think about this important topic.

First, however, we get to see how the Manolo’s old friend, the Michael Kors searches for the inspiration, and the result, the Doris Duke in Hawaii, it is not especially inspiring. This “inspiration” it yields what, the retro Hawaiian prints in the pastel colors! Very innovative, that.

Thank Goodness, says the Manolo, that at the least his inspiration it was not the Daisy Duke in Appalachia, or else we would have had to sit through the showing of the Michael Kors line of Hee Haw couture.

As for the designers of the Project Runway, many of their inspirations (street signs, graffitti, large African women in dashikis) they were equally hackneyed, something which the Michael Kors noted unironically at the final showdown.

And here the Manolo he must give the special props to the Andrae and the Daniel, not merely for the beautiful garments which they produced, but also for having the good eye to find the images which were unusual and inspiring. Like the Michael Kors, the Manolo he is now the “Full Dan Fan”. Also, more and more the Manolo he has come to love the crazy little flaming Andrae. Yes, he is wound one turn too tight, but at the bottom he has the sweet and kindly personality, and his talent, which literally found beauty in the gutter, it is muy fuerte indeed.

This episode it was also good because it gave us the Nick almost having the melting down, the Zulema getting her final reward, and the chastened and seriously subdued Santino, who does the dead perfect impersonation of the Tim Gunn, and who appears to have less and less talent as the series progresses. By the way, after watching the sage Tim Gunn go on and on about the deficiencies of the model Rachel (who is the “elongated marshmallow with the “gumby legs”) the Manolo he cannot but believe that the Zulema did exactly the right thing by taking the Tarah. That it did not help her, it is beside the point.

Finally, let the Manolo say that the Jay, who appeared last night as the judge, he is more amusing by himself, than all of the cuurent designers put together. The Manolo he is eagerly awaiting the Project Jay.

Manolo says, Ayyyyyyy! It is the final much foretold convergence of evil…Lagerfeld in Uggs!

Manolo says, look the fashion bloggers have the big plans for the New York Fashion Week!

This Fashionweek, Feb. 3-10, 2006, it’s a New Chapter in Fashion History as New York’s Fashionweek Goes Live! The Fashiontribes.com and Almost Girl blogs team up with Glam.com and Pajamas Media to bring you Liveblogging, Podcasting & Videoblogging Coverage from the Tents at Bryant Park.

Fall 2006 Fashionweek starts in February. So why wait for up to four months for the major fashion mags finally arrive on the newsstand for news & analysis of the Fall 2006 runway? The latest – and some would argue most fun! – way to get that up-to-the minute fashion & style coverage you crave is now a mouse click away. The digital revolution has finally hit the fashion industry!

Two of the web’s premier fashion & lifestyle blogs, Fashiontribes and Almost Girl are teaming up with Glam.com and Pajamas Media – to cover Fashionweek as it happens from the tents. “This is a new era for fashion & lifestyle coverage,” explains Fashiontribes.com’s editor in chief, Lesley Scott. “People want their style information quickly, and they don’t want to have to weed through pages & pages of the same thing. They also love the information, diversity, and sense of humor that the blogs provide.” Almost Girl’s Julie Fredrickson concurs, adding, “People are tired of waiting for information. With our blogging coverage, you know what’s going on – literally as models are coming down the runway. In the new digital world, things operate at light speed. The way I see it, we are giving fashion readers exactly what they want the instant they want it!”

In addition to the live Fashionweek coverage by Fashiontribes and Fredrickson – who is reporting from the shows as part of the Fashiontribes editorial team – there will be a giant fashion blogging “carnival.” Some 30 of the web’s top fashion & lifestyle blogs will weigh in daily on The State of the Fashion Union: the shows, the trends, fashion, beauty, style, & the state of the fashion universe in general. To find out about what’s going on at a glance, Fashiontribes and Almost Girl will act as blog portals, providing a daily summary about everything that was covered – As a premier member of the Glam Blog Network, Fashiontribes posts will also be promoted on Glam.com and will contribute to their up-to-the-minute Fashionweek coverage.

To kick off Fashionweek, Glam will also host Blogging is the New Black, a Blog Breakfast Panel Conference at the W Times Square on February 2, from 9 am – 11am. Fashiontribes.com’s Scott will be one of the invited panelists discussing how blogs are changing the fashion media as we know it. She will of course be blogging about the whole affair – that very day! – as part of the Fashionweek Blogging Event.

What to expect from Fashionweek blogging: Daily runway reports
• Backstage Interviews
• Chats with Insiders
• Dish on the afterparties
• Commentary on the state of fashion right now
• Picks & pans from Fall 2006: the best & worst looks, makeup, accessories
• The trends to pay attention to

Of the course, the Manolo he will be offering his opinionsand comments about the shows and the fashions as the week it unfolds.

Big Chief Super Seductive

Manolo says, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

P.S. Nothing cheers the Manolo like the visit from the funky little fashion troll Galliano!

P.P.S. Many thanks to the super smart Almost the Girl, who needs to learn that the paragraph break it is the readers’ friend.