Manolo says, the Build the Outfit contest, it has returned!

And look, this time it is boots…

There is so much that one can do with these handsome and practical suede boots from the Enzo Angliolini. These are the sort of boots that could be worn by almost anyone–young or old, tough or sweet, work or casual, skirts or jeans–the Manolo can imagine hundreds of possibilities. And at the price is not outrageous.

And now the Manolo encourages you to go and build the outfit around these boots.

The rules are the same as ever. Please post your reply in Manolo’s Super Fantastic Forums.

On Saturday, the Manolo will pick the winner from among the entries and award the person who made it with the $100 gift certificate from Zappos.

Manolo says, it is again Monday, you are back at your desk, and worse, the cold rain is arriving this afternoon to gloomify whatever remaining Halloween cheer you may have had.

In such circumstances, one must do what the Manolo does when he is out bummed: look at the shoes!

Above are the beautiful and dramatic chunky-heeled shoes from Emilio Pucci. And, what better shoes to cheer you, for as we all know, Pucci makes the smiles!

Manolo says, the Hollywood writer peoples are on strike, yes? Not the Manolo’s friend the Wave-inatrix. She is still blogging away, dispensing her good-humored and most helpful advice.

Manolo says, ayyyy! In the future remind the Manolo to keep his little jokes about Clay Aiken to himself.

Manolo says, here is the best of the week from the Manolosphere.

Spirit Fingers…

Joan Collins gave us quite the scare recently when she showed up at the Angel Ball, clinging onto her fur stole for dear life while everyone else was content to pose with bare shoulders and cleavage.

Plumcake…

Ah the formal wedding. Those magical evenings when you get to trade your personal sanity, comfort and an expensive share in a 6 quart Kitchenaid Artisan Pro mixer for four hours of clumsy small talk, a feeble breast grope by an inappropriate member of the groom’s family (bonus points if he was born before the New Deal or has to carry an oxygen tank) and all the hangover-inducing champagne you can drink.

Francesca…

The next time someone suggests women are, or become fat, to hide emotional problems, you can stick this article in their faces.

Raincoaster…

Fairies, particularly, are in desperate need of a PR boost right about now, and here comes Disney to the rescue.

Glinda…

Legally procure someone else’s child. A young child is good, but it can be of almost any age.

Isidore Gallant…

Come to think of it, Izzy hopes someday to see the bumper sticker “If this casbah’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’.”

Mr. Henry…

Doesn’t Mr. Henry KNOW that chocolate ice cream always disappoints? After years of disappointment, he no longer grouses about the lingering aftertaste of Hershey’s syrup lurking in every common brand.

Twistie…

Helga couldn’t quite understand why every party she’d attended that night ended abruptly after she burst into song…..

Never teh Bride…

I’d recommend shying away from dirty or profane songs, of course. And unless you’re having a kooky Halloween wedding, it’s probably best to steer clear of anything particular dark or unpleasant sounding.

Manolo says, if you are not reading Linda Grant’s marvelous new blog, The Thoughtful Dresser you are missing out on important and hilarious discussions such as this one.

A few years ago, I was having lunch at Moro in Clerkenwell Market with the then women’s page editor of the Guardian. Sitting at the next table were a group of adoring acolytes hanging on the every word of a flat bloke with a blonde bristly head like a pig, dressed in combats encasing thighs which oozed like over-ripe Camembert sluggishly running off the edge of his chair.

That, said my lunch companion, is Alexander McQueen.

And a spasm of pure rage passed through me. Who was this fat bastard to tell women that they were obese if they couldn’t fit into a size 10? To make clothes that half the population couldn’t wear? I am tired of fat men telling non-skeletal women that they don’t exist. Granted, McQueen, like Lagerfeld, with the assistance of the finest trainers money can buy and no obligation to prepare family meals three times a day, have slimmed down, or in the case of Lagerfeld, turned himself into his own corpse, but fashion is full of fat men (sorry Alber, I really love you in every other way) giving normal-sized women an inferiority complex.

This made the Manolo laugh out loud.

Although, at the same time, the Manolo is sympathetic to the fashion designers, for as he has noted in the past, many fashion designers are quite unattractive, and thus they are obsessed with the most conventional notions of beauty and proportion, even as they are filled with self-loathing for their own appearance.

It is difficult to desire physical beauty so intensely and yet have it denied to you, as the Manolo, from his own personal circumstances, can tell you.

Manolo says, here are the few links which may perhaps amuse…

Smiling is for the mortals. POSE!

The Manolo laughs at those who build their houses upon sand (and or cheap ugly plastic)

And there is no child on earth that could eat all of the 2.3 metric tons of candy we have accumulated over the last week.

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I recently moved to Arizona from a much colder state, and took a job in a corporate setting after twenty years in academia. Can you suggest a pair of shoes to wear with my casual Friday boot-cut jeans? I am a woman of a certain age, but I would like to maintain a hint of bohemianism without appearing to be a crazy old lady.

Shannon

Manolo says, there are so many things going on in this letter the Manolo does not even know where to start: the move from the cold of the north to the warmth of the south; the change from the mock-free-spiritedness of the academy to the more regimented setting of corporate employment; the desire to maintain one’s bohemianosity in the face of creeping bag-ladyism; the boot-cut jeans.

Actually, there is already the suitable model for Southwestern artistic bohemianism, involving prairie denim skirts, and excessive amounts of turquoise geegawery, and while the Manolo’s friend might not wish to head too far down this road, the few nods to tradition cannot hurt.

This is why the Manolo would recommend the Muchas Hojas Mule from Old Gringo. It is handsomely Southwestern without crossing the line into being costumey.

Manolo says, in the past the Manolo has criticized Roberto Cavalli for his lack of restraint as the designer, but one could never say that Cavalli does not have the marvelous sense of humor. For what could be funnier/scarier than to appear dressed as Karl Lagerfeld?

Manolo says, yet again the major blogging awards have neglected to include the fashion blog category. This time it is the Weblog Awards who have disrespected us.

This is ridiculous. As this year alone dozens of articles, in such publications as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, have been written about the growing power and influence of the fashion blogosphere. The point of most of these articles is that the fashion blogs are having the significant impact on the wider culture. And they all note how fashion blogs have changed the relationship between the clothing designers, the clothing retailers and manufacturers, and the consuming public. Where before there were one-sided announcements, now there is conversation.

The Manolo would also point to one other indication of the importance and impact of the fashion blogs: money.

One need only look at such recent developments as the purchase of Coutorture by Sugar Media, and the amount of capital raised by Glam.com to know that the the economic potential of the fashion blogs is great. Indeed, the Manolo himself has been approached repeatedly in the past six months by the venture capitalists offering him ridiculous sums of money for investment purposes. This sort of thing does not happen to the pet blogs.

And so the Manolo now calls upon the Weblog Awards to acknowledge what the rest of the world already knows, that the fashion blogs are important and worthy of recognition.

If you, the reader of this post, would like to help, go to their site and leave the polite comment asking that they reconsider their decision, or email them the polite but firm note expressing your objections.

If you are the fashion blogger, write the post celebrating the substantial achievements of the fashion blogs and decrying this injustice. It is not right that the fashion blogosphere should be neglected in this way.

Manolo asked, whose shoes?

Manolo answers, it is the Sophia Loren!

Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend Sftyisnoaccident who was the first to correctly guess whoes shoes.