Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, the Manolo’s internet friend Linda Grant has alerted us to this article in the Guardian, which declares Gwyneth Paltrow’s new obsession with sky-high shoes to be the signal of stylistic decadence.

It’s rare for an A-lister to sound the death knell on a trend - that honour usually goes to a first-division Wag. But, Gwyneth Paltrow may have done just that this week. After a month of tireless promotion for her new flick, Iron Man, wearing a selection of the most downright precarious heels known to womankind, even the most trend-indulgent among us have had to wonder whether the backlash has begun.

[…]

Last month at a Manhattan charity benefit Gwyneth wore her first shock-worthy S&M style heels, then earlier this week in Berlin she staggered down some steps in a pair of 7in shoe boots one day, and teetered on a pair of lacy platform stilettos the next. One pair required an aide for her to lean on; the other pair was accessorised with an uncomfortable look that, I’m guessing, said, “OK, I’m late with this trend, and it’s not entirely me, but I’m going to persevere.”

In recent seasons, high heels have been growing at a staggering rate, with celebrities seemingly daring each other to go higher and higher. Towards the end of 2006, Christian Louboutin and his trademark red soles were regularly name-checked not just in Vogue, but in the tabloid press too. Heel heights became a story in their own right. […] The result being that any two-bit celebrity who wants to be papped now knows that she need only strap on some platform spikes with nosebleed potential and coverage is pretty much guaranteed.

But there are signs that a quiet backlash is beginning. Celebrities who don’t want to be associated with a limo lifestyle have turned their back on heels.

This end of the super-tall shoes arrives none to soon for the Manolo who has grown weary of this excess. Indeed, the persistence of the tall platforms has come as the surprise to the Manolo who was predicting the demise of the platform trend last year (although, in the Manolo’s favor, what we are seeing here are stiletto heeled shoes with the hidden platform, which are different from the sort of chunky platforms that were being seen last year.)

As for Gwyneth the fashion icon, the problem with her wearing these outrageous high heels is that her true style is more modernist bohemian than trendy couture, and with these shoes she is allowing herself to be led astray, chasing after the will-o-the-wisp trend, rather than being faithful to her core style.

P.S. The Manolo’s internet friend Just Jared has pictures of Gwyneth Paltrow in the golden Giuseppe Zanotti gladiator sandals, beautiful flat shoes that suit her perfectly.

Manolo says, Twinkle Toes Charms? They are brilliant! Why did the Manolo not think of them first?

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

While the shoes themselves wouldn’t be bad if they were destined for an orthopedic store specializing in footwear for women over 80, we all know that they are not.

Beverly Hills Branchee!

..considered sufficiently important to warrant a UN press conference devoted to the subject.

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

Dear Manolo,

I’ve just got my first big career break, an upper-midlevel management position at a new company. I’ve jut turned 27, fairly young for this position, and I’ll be supervising several people who are older and have been in the field longer than I have, so I need to look professional and authoritative without being stodgy. Please help.

Leigh

Manolo says, how the Manolo remembers his own precipitous climb up the corporate ladder at the shoe store of Señor Mercurio Albornoz y Bahamonde.

Already, by the age of twelve the youthful Manolo had achieved the exalted rank of Manager of Lacing in the Department of Boot-Blacking, where he was in command of four other shoeshine boys, including the very resentful Teofilo, who at 57 years of age, was understandably bitter at having been passed over for the promotion.

But, such was the cutthroat and competitive nature of professional shoe shining, in which only the best succeed.

Naturally, at the shoe shop of Señor Mecurio everyone understood the importance of having impressive and authoritative feetwear, shoes which instantly conveyed the importance of their owners.

Here, in the soft black patent leather, is the National from Stuart Weitzman, the handsome shoe with the air of competent authority.

Manolo says, several months ago the Manolo pointed out the audacious shamelessness of the Steve Madden shoe company, who not content to steal the shoe design, literally pirated the publicity photo from Saks Fifth Ave, in the attempt to sell peoples the cheaply fake Louboutin knockoffs.

Now comes yet another entry in the ledger of shame from Steve Madden, this time the ridiculous attempt to copy-cat the Sportiletto, the very distinctive stiletto shoe from Balenciaga.

As the Manolo’s internet friend Stacy says.

Here’s the problem, the copycat isn’t an illegal manufacturing company that specializes in secretly producing knockoff goods, it’s popular shoe designer Steve Madden. How awful is it when a designer blatantly plagiarizes another designer’s work? Even though the two labels are eons away from each other in price, reputation, quality and target buyer, it seems really wrong. It might not be so bad if the concept of making a shoe from a bunch of tennis shoe scraps had trickled down the design ladder and Steve Madden reinterpreted it in a different way (designers borrow from each other all the time and hardly any idea is a completely new idea these days), but to use the same colors and details, from the pink and black mesh down to the green buckle, is pretty unbelievable.

Unbelievable, unimaginative, unethical, and ultimately shameless.

P.S. Thanks to the Manolo’s internet friend Wannabe for alerting the Manolo to this.

Manolo asked, whose shoes?

Manolo answers, it is the Tom Cruise!

Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend Amy who got the correct answer first!

Manolo asks, whose shoes?

Manolo says, perhaps our long international nightmare is finally over.

Shares of Crocs Inc plummeted over 40 percent on Tuesday, a day after the maker of brightly colored plastic shoes slashed its sales and earnings projections for the first quarter and year, in what one analyst dubbed a “stunning fall.”

[…]

“Current macrotrends in the environment” have led to weaker-than-expected sales, according to Crocs Chief Executive Ron Snyder, speaking to analysts during a conference call on Tuesday. Colder weather and the closure of the company’s Canadian factory were also expected to crimp profit.

Factories producing Satan’s feetwear are closing? Sales of ugly plastic clogs are plummeting? Super Villain CEOs are whining at the press?

Can ticker-tape parades and joyous public pronouncements of thanksgiving be far behind?

Manolo says, outside it is the glorious spring Monday! The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming and, most importantly of all, the sun is shining.

But, sadly, you are locked inside your office, chained to your desk deep in the twilight belly of the corporate galley, pulling relentlessly on your oar.

“Battle Speed!” shouts the Boss Man from the helm.

In response your district manager pounds out the new beat on the top of his desk, quickening the pace at which you must row. The next cubicle over, your immediate supervisor, Ms. Grog, begins lashing Betsy, the new girl.

“Faster, scum! Quarterly projections are down,” She yells.

At that moment the intercom crackles to life.

“Oh, noes!” you think to yourself, between breaths, “here it comes.”

“Ramming Speed!”

And now it is double-quick time, with the pounding on the desk, and the lashings of the coworkers. But it works, and the ungainly corporate ship lurches forward!

You’re pulling harder than ever now–rowing, rowing, rowing–your entire physical being engaged with the work at hand, but your mind drifts away, to Rome and that semester abroad, when Aldo, your Italian “boyfriend”, insisted on circling the Colosseum three times on his Vespa, with you hanging on the back, laughing and full of life!

“Gladiator sandals,” you think to yourself, the sound of Betsy’s whimpering at the edge of your consciousness, “I need gladiator sandals.”