MAR
2006 14

The Help Wanted

Manolo says, The Manolo’s empire it is again in the period of expansion, as the Manolo will shortly be introducing yet another Manolo-based blog. This one devoted to the joys of food and drink and the matters gourmandise.

However, before this happens, the Manolo must take care of other things.

Most importantly, he must address the fact that he has not had the time nor the interest to properly maintain his blog devoted to the fashion for the males, Manolo for the Men.

On many of the occasions of the past, the Manolo has noted that the topic of clothing for the men bores the Manolo. Yet, at the same of the time, one need only look around the sidewalks of our cities to know that most men need the sound advice on the matters of dress and comportment.

So, to further this indespensible civilizing mission to the sloppy and slackadasical he-natives of the world, the Manolo would like to announce that he is seeking the help.

He is looking for the blogger to help him write about the matters sartorial at his humble Manolo for the Men blog.

Ideally, the Manolo would like to clone the Never teh Bride, and somehow implant in her the DNA to make her as interested in the male clothing as she is in the brides and weddings. Sadly, however, the medical science it has not advanced so far.

So in the stead, he must look for the person who has the unique and entertaining authorial voice and the obsession with clothing for the mens. If you believe you are such the person, please send the Manolo the email outlining for him your qualifications, together with the brief samples of the writing and/or links to your bloggings.

The Manolo should mention that this it is the paid position. Not well paid nor anywhere near the full time, but there is the potential to perhaps make more, and the exposure may be beneficial to the freelance writer who wishes to make the name in fashion.

MAR
2006 14

Men's Shoes, Shoes

The Berluti

Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has forwarded to the Manolo the article from the Times of the London about the Berluti, the swank English bootery.

Olga Berluti makes the most beautiful men’s shoes in the world — and if you don’t believe me, take a peek in one of Berluti’s London branches. You’ll gaze in awe at the elegant lines and the burnished deep, layered finish and go: “Wow! When I’m rich that’s what I’ll wear all the time.” Then you’ll walk away sadly because you’ll know it’s never going to happen. Not when a basic pair of ready-to-wear shoes costs a minimum of £470 and a pair of bespoke ones upwards of £2,200.

According to Berluti, though, when we meet in her Paris atelier, there are quite a few non-rich people out there who buy her shoes. “Today young people with no money save and save till they can afford them,” she says.

It’s Berluti’s view that a shoe isn’t a proper shoe until it has been worn for at least 20 years — the point when it takes on its owner’s personality. So even for your bespokes, you’re paying only £110 a year.You’d agree it’s worth it if you tried on a pair – as I did in Berluti’s atelier. To wear they’re like ballet pumps. The fine calf leather has been tanned to such feathery lightness you could almost be barefoot — and the fit is perfect.

[…]

In the early days, when the company’s clientele included everyone from Toulouse-Lautrec to the Duke of Windsor, 80 per cent of its shoes were black and the rest chestnut brown. It was Berluti who introduced the more experimental finishes — smoked blacks, blue greys, yellow-browns, and grey-greens — and styles (tattooed with calligraphy; scarred like African tribesmen, etc) for which the shoemaker is renowned today.

The polishing techniques she invented herself and they are a closely-guarded secret. She keeps all her magic ingredients in old Guerlain perfume bottles in her atelier, watched over by a dummy dressed as a samurai, and her personally decorated wooden lasts (ie, the blocks from which bespoke shoes are made) of famous old customers.

They include Richard Burton, Mr Royce (of Rolls-Royce) and Toulouse-Lautrec; Warhol is the only customer with five lasts because he kept changing his mind.

The shoes of the Berluti are indeed truly marvelous, and in the fact, many of them are among the most beautiful shoes for the mens the Manolo has ever seen; absolutely gorgeous shoes.

Sometimes, however, the Olga Berluti she takes the quest for beauty and novelty too far, such as with the collection she has named Rapiécés-Reprisés.

These shoes they have, according to the Berluti website, the distinguished artistic pedigree.

One day, Andy Warhol asked Olga Berluti: “I would like my right loafer to be patched. And it needs to be visible! It needs to be very Andy Warhol!’. 40 years later, Olga Berluti applies to Ready-To-Wear models the techniques of patching and darning traditionally reserved for clothes.

Yes, it is possible to admire such shoes for the superb quality of their workmanship, and for their cultural value, but they are to the mind of the Manolo almost unwearable, especially by those wish to be taken seriously. If you are the dandy, or the rich artist, then perhaps yes, but otherwise, almost certainly no.

Still, what is there not to love about the company that adores the shoes and the art of the shoes so completely?

MAR
2006 14

What the Manolo Is...