Manolo's Shoe Blog

NOV
2012 13

Ask Miss Plumcake: Horsey Shoes

First of all, I’m not going to brag or anything, but I am typing this while getting a foot rub. This is unusual for two reasons: one, because I stopped letting people touch my feet after I caught my longtime pedicurist discussing my particular toe situation and bandying about the phrase “pterodactyl” with a bit more ease than I found comforting. Second because I can rarely be called upon to do two things at once, especially if one of those things involves lotion and a lithe Latin athlete. It’s a miracle I can even type coherently. Still, it’s important to…

NOV
2012 09

Manolo the Columnist: Gladia Artistic from Oscar de la Renta

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post. Dear Manolo, For reasons that would be very familiar to approximately 50 million voting-age Americans, I woke up Wednesday morning feeling very depressed about the current state of affairs and recent events. Can you please recommend some shoes to cheer me up? Ann Manolo says, the Manolo, who finds politics generally distasteful, must confess that he woke up Wednesday morning feeling nothing but relief that the aggressive, importuning, hectoring, and round-the-clock campaigning for the public office had finally ended…for now. It is not that the…

NOV
2012 08

The One That Got Away

When I started curating my shoe collection nearly a decade ago –when Lacroix still had his atelier, Gaultier was CD for Hermès and Muccia Prada’s current models were still fetuses instead of just practically ones– I did so with the knowledge that someday the newspaper gravy train, where I was raking in tens of dollars a month, would end. I bought carefully and within my means, bringing home a pair of new lovelies only if I could pay cash and was confident they’d be just as stylish thirty years from the moment I stood, insidey parts all a-tingle, at the…

NOV
2012 06

Do The Right Thing

Whether Democrat, Republican, Or otherwise affiliated, Get out there are vote! Oh, and click the images for links.

NOV
2012 02

Manolo the Columnist: Huntress Boot from Hunter

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post. Dear Manolo, Thanks to a recent unpleasant experience with a late-season hurricane which shall remain nameless, I have come to the realization that I need to upgrade my rain boots to something sturdier and less girlish. Please help. Angela Manolo says, it is true! The pink girly gum boots that were fine for skipping down the street to the patisserie in the light mist would likely prove unsuitable for wearing while chain-sawing into kindling the oak tree which has crushed your Prius. But this is…

NOV
2012 02

Whose Shoes Wednesday… The Answer

Manolo asked, whose shoes? Manolo answers, it is the Helena Bonham Carter! Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, the K, for being the first to correctly identify this week’s kooky-nutty celebrity of note.

NOV
2012 01

For All The Saints (okay, just one, but he’s fabulous)

A little Yves Saint Laurent for All Saints Day. Yes, I coordinate my designers with the liturgical calendar. Don’t judge me, I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to play Jesus while wearing a pair of oxblood Christian Lacroix sandals with a cream crocodile sculpted heel. In your face, Jim Caviezel! Click the images for links. Sadly, the heels –could you die over those emerald soles?– don’t come in size elephant foot, but anyone who wears size 10 and below is in luck.

OCT
2012 31

Whose Shoes Wednesday

Manolo asks, whose shoes?

OCT
2012 30

Shoes in Cinema: Kinky Boots

I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing cobblers glue. I’m in Virginia now, and although the worst seems to be over, the whole DC Metro area got pounded like British currency. My fella, Hot Latin Boy, is holding down the fort at Plumcake Cottage in Baja, Mexico where a previously inactive volcano has started to be less inactive as one might hope. Frankly I’m just one Aimee Mann song away from that crazy scene in Magnolia and I’m pretty sure my wiper blades won’t be able to take it. I’ve got this weird survivalist streak that means my hatches…

OCT
2012 26

Manolo the Columnist: Park from Stuart Weitzman

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post. Dear Manolo, Can you please help me? I’m having a hard time deciding on my Halloween costume this year. It’s come down to a choice between Morticia Addams (with a very short skirt), a Sexy Librarian, or Sarah Palin. Which do you think would be the best? What sort of shoes should I wear with it? Emmy Manolo says, the Manolo remembers when the Halloween was a holiday for only the little kids, who dressed up like the balleina, or the cowboy, or the Superman,…

OCT
2012 25

Multiple Choice Time: Dolce & Gabbana

I’m going to Italy with two pairs of shoes. Talk about a tough decision. I mean, it’s Italy. That’s where the shoes were BORN. Selecting one pair of flats and one of heels was like Sophie’s Choice, except you can always have more kids, but Miu Miu only made those vernice slingbacks one season. As much as I’d like to traipse around the cobblestones of Italia in my most precarious heels, it’s not going to happen. You need to be either a billy goat or an Italian woman to carry that off and since I am neither (although I do…

OCT
2012 23

Found in Translation

…with varying degrees of success. Heels from Malene Birger, Reed Krakoff and Giambattista Valli all available on considerable sale from The Outnet.