Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, so boring, so very, very boring.

Indeed, throughout the episode the Manolo kept devising the ways to make the episode more interesting, ways that usually invloved handcuffing the randomly selected designer to the Santino, giving them both the long knives and seeing who emerged the “winner”.

Zulema and Santino…Fight!

Sadly, such hijinx they were not on the menu. In the stead, we the loyal viewers were treated to the blandest of outtakes, and the most self-justifying of blather. Yes, there were the bizarre, uncomfortable moments, such as the goofy Lupe’s drunken ramble, and the Daniel Franco’s creepy crazy-eyed protestation of love to the Heidi, but there was little of the entertainment in that.

The Manolo he did have one other idea for the perfect show of the reality television…Santino and Andrae, The Real Life Odd Couple!

Santino is so delightfully, abrasively self-absorbed (and actually quite funny) and Andrae is perhaps the sweetest, kindest human who has ever walked the earth. Put this pair in the media-bubble safe house in Los Angeles and let the world beat the path to their door!

This week on The Santino and Andrae Show, old pal Tim Gunn pays the visit. Watch the sparks fly!

Manolo says, many years ago, when the Manolo was the poor boy, he constructed something similar, but vastly more super fantastic, out of the strips of the old leather and the industrial debris he had found at the abandoned furniture factory.

Of the course, the main difference was that the Manolo’s shoe fit properly.

Manolo says, for the fans of the first season of the Project Runway, here is the link to most entertaining interview with the Jay. It is filled with the sort of amusing and outrageous common sense that has made the Jay one of the Manolo’s favorites.

What he could talk about was the aesthetic of his upcoming collection, which he describes in “Project Jay” as being “accessible, wearable, affordable.”

“The intention is just to be easy,” he explained as we entered Lush, which was laid out like a deli, with produce-style bins and shelves of, yes, luscious-smelling bath, beauty and grooming products. “Not easy as in boring or simple, but I like to base everything off jeans and t-shirts. It’s America, after all. Even Charlize Theron and Madonna wear t-shirts and track suits. We concentrate so much in fashion on, like, Zac Posen’s satin-piped bodices and Art Deco bs, and it’s expensive, overrated and probably made like crap. And there is such a push to use fine, expensive fabrics and make $2400 shirts. That’s rent for people, or a college fund! It’s clothes at the end of the day. It’s not a cancer drug, it’s not an AIDS cure. I’d rather sell four hundred million t-shirts at $24.99 apiece and build the house that way then sell eight gowns to some bs artist’s dumb wife.”

And then this section, it contained the favorite part of the Manolo.

“Peggy Moffit, man,” he enthused of his muse. “She’s like [intoned in robot voice] ‘I’m a weird sculpture. I’m mannequin woman.’ That time period was so amazing. You know, Paris Hilton is a joke to me. Lindsay Lohan is supposedly the new face of Chanel. It’s like, ‘Who is the hot new thing?’ That’s why fashion is so fickle. I just stay out of it and do what I want to do.”

In this passage, the Jay shows the great advantage of coming from the hinterland: you are to some of the extent constitutionally and emotionally insulated from the frenetic nonsense of the media metropoli.

The Manolo, he would now remind you that all three of the finalists of the current season, they are not from the New York or the Los Angeles. The Daniel V. he is from Michigan, Chloe is from the Houston, Texas, and the Santino is originally from the Missouri.

Manolo says, the Manolo he cannot tell you how many times he receives the emails such as the following from his internet friends.

Dear Manolo,

I have a strange problem that has plagued me for years. I have extremely large calves. Not a normal problem, except when I want to buy some knee-high boots!! It’s impossible. I have tried everywhere, I have tried J.Crew which offers wider calf sizes, I have dried elastic insets, I have tried it all and still have no knee-boots. Last time I measured, they were 15-16 inches around (my calves that is!)! No joke. (No risk of cankles here, my ankles are the opposite and are tiny!). Is there any maker you know of, offering boots for larger calves? Should I get custom made boots? Where do you even go to get custom boots? Please help me, I am begging you!

Soulfully searching for boots,
Karin

This problem it is sadly one that usually did not have the satisfactory solution. Typically, the boots for the girls of the big calves, they are inferior in the quality and style, and the Manolo he will not recommend such things to his friends.

However, now there appears to be at least one of the better designers of the shoes who is addressing this problem. Behold, the Lumiani 69 Extra Calf!

This boot it is made in Italy, and is of the better quality, and the style it is not bad. However, for the Manolo’s friend, the best feature is that it has the circumference around the calf of 18 inches! This it should fit even the most athletic of the legs.

Manolo says, Honey, I’m off to the ice cream social!

Don’t forget to trim around the sidewalk before you go, Pixie-Goth Lawn Boy.

Manolo says, it is the Tuesday, time to see what the Manolo is…

Reading…

Watching…

Reading…

Listenting to…

The Manolo he wanted to like the Stage Beauty much more than he ultimately did. The period detail it was amusing and properly bawdy, and yet there was something essentially and emotionally incorrect in the relationship between the Kynaston and the Maria, and do not get the Manolo started on the acting of the Clare Danes in this movie.

Happily, the Manolo very much enjoyed the Rupert Everett’s delightful Charles II and the Nell Gwynn she was wonderful. In the fact, there is the great and amusing movie yet to be made about the Charles and the Nell. Perhaps the Manolo shall write it.

Manolo says, the wonderful I Am The Fashion girls they have put up this week’s edition of the Carnivale of the Couture.

Manolo say, the Manolo’s good friends at the Due Farina, they are having the super fantastic giant sale of the samples this week!

Dear Manolo,

We are having a HUGE SAMPLE SALE with Due Farina shoes/handbags, Ingwa Melero clothing & V’ta jewelry!!! Up to 70% off. Please post for your readers. Thank you.

Date/time: Thurs. Feb 23 through Sat. 25 11am – 7pm
Location: 325 West 38th St Suite 712 (between 8th & 9th Ave)
Phone: 212.629.7110.

If you are in the New York and you love the colorful shoes made of the unusual materials (and who does not?) you should go to this. The Manolo believes that the most recent collection of the Due Farina it is their best yet.

Manolo says, Ayyyyy! The Halle Berry she has the lambada mania!

The first manifestation, it is the provocative shimmy-shaking…

…Followed by the blatantly sexualized self groping…

…And finally, the victim forbidden-dances with the lavender man-rat.

P.S. Hallewood!