Monday Puzzle Corner
Manolo says, this week, our friend Spirit Fingers has challenged us to identify the Shakespearian movies.
MAR
2008 31
2008 31
Manolo’s Monday Miscellany
Manolo says, here are the few links which may perhaps amuse…
According to the authors, Cinderella’s slippers were NOT made of glass.
This season, prepare to throw off the shackles of those boring proletarian overalls…
MAR
2008 31
2008 31
Michael Kors Opera for the Monday
Manolo says, it is Monday and you are again back at your desk, working for the Man, so as to earn your meager crust of bread. Worse, it is only ten in the morning, and already you have endured the first disaster of the week, as your boss has informed you that you had forgotten to put the new coversheets on the previous week’s TPS reports, thus invoking the petty wrath of the various panjandrums and poobahs further up the chain of corporate misery.
And so you boot up your computer and shout “Ayyyy! Manolo take me away!” And the Manolo does, by showing you the simple, elegant, and completely gorgeous Opera by Michael Kors.
Suddenly you are Grace Kelly, and your boyfriend (who is at home on the couch, playing Grand Theft Auto, and neglecting the help wanted ads) is Cary Grant, or at least he is the magical-realism version of himself, one that is shaved, well-dressed, moderately sober and employed.
Beautiful shoes, is there nothing they cannot do?
MAR
2008 29
2008 29
The Manolo Week in Review
Manolo says, here is the best of the week from the Manolosphere.
Frankly, if you are not at a beach, in a communal shower or getting your toes did, there is no reason to wear flip flops outside the house. None? NONE.
Si todo lo que la prensa conservadora y cerrada pensara sobre Anna Wintour fuera cierto, ella sería la culpable de la anorexia que padecen millones de chicas en todo el mundo, un monstruo destructor de carreras, una retrograda racista y una tirana editorial.
She may enjoy the occasional traipse down Rodeo Drive to pick up diamond-encrusted accessories for her Jack Russell Terrier, but Mariah Carey reassures us that it’s still all about the music (and the tight mini skirts) rather than the money.
La pelea por el estilo: Deyn vs Moss
Mr. Henry has been roughing it in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, living on Grape Nuts, Eight O’Clock Coffee, bacon, tuna fish, red chard, chips, salsa, and Yeungling Black & Tan.
What is this woman thinking about?
Yet another reminder that chores should be closely supervised.
Do you realize that none of the children of any of these women were around when these pictures were taken?
The thing I really like about pulling things out from under cabinets and moving furniture around is that I’m bound to find something interesting or unexpected.
Ever dreamed of a Hollywood wedding?
By contrast, crazy, exploding hair works just fine with the kilts on caber tossers.
Cada que veo un zapato de Pierre Hardy pienso inmediatamente en diseño, arte y sonrisas y más sonrisas en los rostros de la mujeres de todo el mundo que viven maravilladas con sus creaciones.
MAR
2008 28
2008 28
Manolo the Columnist
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,
As you know, better than anyone, the hottest trend for spring are wild and colorful shoes with crazy sculptural heels. While I would love to have some outrageous Miu Miu or Chloe shoes, I’m just a poor working girl. Can you recommend something outrageous that isn’t outrageously priced?Chrissy
Manolo says, last fall, when Miuccia Prada introduced her crazy-colorful pumps with the flower-stem heel, anyone with half the eyeball could see that this was the next big trend.
Soon, other shoe designers rushed to add various shiny baubles, trinkets, geegaws, gimcracks, and folderals to their spring shoes.
And lo, the fashion press thought it was good…The Manolo, not so much.
The problem isn’t that the Manolo doesn’t enjoy the occasional outrageously ornamented shoe, indeed he does. The problem, however, is that so many of the designers do not do them well. For every wonderful Miu Miu tea cup platform pump, there are twenty shoes that look as if the simpleton got busy with the glue gun and craft knife.
Happily, there is John Fluevog, the one designer who was doing sculptural heels when sculptural heels were not trendy. Here is the Truly by Fluevog, the colorful peep-toe pump with the fantastic heels and the not so outrageous price.
MAR
2008 27
2008 27
Manolo’s Thursday Miscellany
Manolo says, here are the few links which may perhaps amuse…
To my mind, wearing pink with impunity is one of the great perks of being a girl.
MAR
2008 27
2008 27
I Shall Call Him Tinkerbell II
Manolo says, notice in the lower right, the desperate maternal hands.
MAR
2008 27
2008 27
Delicate Shoes of Great Cost
Manolo says, the Manolo’s friend Linda Grant has recently purchased these Dolce & Gabbana shoes (in black patent), which sadly, have not withstood the test of (short) time and London streets.
I mentioned last week that I had bought a pair of Dolce & Gabbana shoes. I wore them for the first time on Thursday. When I got home the leather on the soles was pitted and worn away. I was going to take them back to Harvey Nichols for a refund but first went into my excellent local shoe repairers for an opinion. They told me that the shoes were not designed to be worn before having rubber soles put on them if you were going to wear them in the street, rather than carpet […]
To put the rubber half soles on the designer shoes, or to not put the rubber half soles on the designer shoes, that is the question.
While it is true that many cobblers and manufacturers recommend the professional attachment of the thin rubber half soles to the bottom of the designer shoes which are to be worn in the streets, to do so seems as if a) one is being defrauded by the manufacturer and b) one is destroying the integrity of the beautiful object.
The problem is that the shoes we most prize for their beauty and elegance are most often those which are exceedingly delicate, and are not designed for daily wear on the wet and muddy streets of the big city. Worse, the ultimate impracticality of the beautiful shoe is sometimes part of its charm, even if it does not seem fair that $600 shoes should display signs of wear so quickly.
So, what is the solution? Certainly, premium designers and manufacturers must only use the highest quality leather (something the Dolce and the Gabbana have clearly not done in this case, and more shame to them for it).
But even with the best and most durable leathers, the problem of design intrudes, as we wish our most precious shoes to be exquisite, light as the feather, and possessed of thin soles and delicate features, all things which run counter to our desire for durability, and the laws of nature.
And this is how it shall ever be, sturdiness and delicacy in eternal conflict, for as long as we maintain our justifiable love of natural materials.
Whose Shoes Wednesday…The Answer!
Manolo asked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the Gwyneth Paltrow!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, Curly Q who was the first to arrive at the correct answer.
MAR
2008 26
2008 26
Manolo’s Wednesday Miscellany
Manolo says, here are the few links which may perhaps amuse…