NOV
2015
24

From the Archives of the Manolo: Christian Louboutin Feticha Botta Platform Boots For the Tuesday Before Thanksgiving

N.B. Here is the little pre-Thanksgiving treat from the Wayback Machine of the Manolo, the year was the 2009…

Manolo says, it is Tuesday and you are back at your desk doing whatever it is you normally do, but very badly, as you are completely distracted by Thanksgiving, which is now barreling down upon you like the runaway freight train full of free-range turkeys.

Thanksgiving was not supposed to be crazy this year. It was going to be just you and Gary and the kids and your mother. But then your mother called two weeks ago, and said she’d invited your Uncle Bill to fly out from Buffalo for Thanksgiving.

“Okay,” you thought, “one more won’t hurt. Uncle Bill is an old school nut who will probably goad Gary into an argument about professional football. But one more won’t hurt.”

And then your mother informed you that Uncle Bill insisted on inviting his son, your layabout cousin Billy, to fly in from Hollywood to join you. Billy calls himself the “writer-director-actor-producer,” although what he really is is the 43-year-old, cut-rate playboy who subsists on the variety of menial jobs and handouts from your uncle. Although, to his credit, he did once appear as the non-speaking extra on Will and Grace, in the distant background, as the coffee shop patron.

Speaking of people subsisting on handouts, two days after your mother’s call, your daughter Jeannie, who is away at the college, called to say that she has invited some dorm friends home for Thanksgiving — three foreign girls and one Latvian boy — who have nowhere to go for the holiday.

“The more the merrier,” you think. And then the conversation takes the surreal turn.

“Mom,” says Jeannie, “one of the girls is from Africa, and in her culture the turkey is considered sacred.”

“What?”

“We can’t have turkey, because Ki’x’il’ko,” the name included three clicks and the pop, “says her people consider the turkey to be a type of sacred spirit.”

Later, when you tell Gary that you’re going to have to order goose for Thanksgiving, his reply is succinct.

“Bull-crap. The turkey is sacred to my people, too, especially when served with sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce.”

“But we can’t be offending this girl.”

“Tell her it’s a really big chicken. Nobody thinks chickens are holy.”

And then five minutes after you get off the phone with the butcher, who informs you that you cannot order the 23-pound goose, so you’ll need three smaller birds, Jeannie calls back.

“Mom,” she says, “Ki’x’il’ko says it’s okay to have a turkey. She looked up the word. It’s ostrich that’s supposed to be sacred to her people.”

Luckily, you were able to call the butcher back and cancel the flock of geese.

And now, on Tuesday, with two days to go, you are frazzled and distracted from your work. And yet you are also filled with pride that everyone would consider your home and your family as being the good place to celebrate this important holiday.

Look, here is the Christian Louboutin Feticha Botta Platform Boots, simple, beautiful, dead sexy.

Christian Louboutin Feticha Botta Platform Boots   Manolo Likes!  Click!

Frida Kahlo’s Wooden Leg

Frida Kahlo’s Wooden Leg

Red boot and bell,
Frida Kahlo straps on her wooden leg.
“Let the good people stare,
while I waltz through the Zócalo.”
Clump-jingle-jingle
Clump-jingle-jingle

Frida Kahlos Wooden Leg

The Manolo’s poem is occasioned by the new gallery show from the photographer Ishiuci Miyako

Met Gala 2015: Charlie Chan Meets the Dragon Ladies!

Manolo says, Confucius say, museum who hold big party for fashion world, get trash on exhibits.
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Dragon Lady, indeed.

What ever you do, mortal, do no stare directly into the face of the Sarah Jessica Parker, lest ye be turned to stone.
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She has the old-fashion looks, the kind the used to serve with baloney and wonder bread.

Look! It is the Maggie Gyllenhaal, and she has come to the gala straight from the automat where she was restocking the sandwiches.
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This color, it is called 'Vapid Pink' and it is the latest addition to the Estée Lauder Suburban Bonehead collection.

It is amazing what can be accomplished today with the animatronic technology. Still working on the artificial intelligence, though.
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(more…)

The Bones of the San Valentine

Manolo says, many happy returns for the Día de San Valentín! May your day be filled with joy and chocolate hearts and trinkets made of pure love (and diamonds)!

And now, let us not forget the reason for the season…

The Reliquary of Saint Valentine in the church of San Anton in Madrid

The Reliquary of Saint Valentine in the church of San Anton in Madrid

Yes, those are indeed the boney remains of the San Valentín, or at the least one of the many relics that are claimed to exist.

This nearly complete set of bones, which is one of the lesser known, is in the Real Iglesia de San Anton, on the Calle Horteleza, very near to the place where the tiny Manolo first found employment, many decades ago, in the shoe shop of the Mercurio Albornoz y Bahmonde. Often were the times when the little Manolo would go into the church for mass, only to discover the lovers who bore the cross of stars kneeling in supplication before this reliquary.

As you may see in the picture above, however, the bones of the Saint Valentine are the not especially big deal to the priests who run parish of San Anton. When the Manolo last paid the visit, the reliquary was covered with the dust, sitting alone in the rarely-visited side chapel. (Please to make your own metaphor, personal or global, about the state of modern love.)

And, now, because the Manolo is the beneficent dictator, the shoes suitable for the day of San Valentine!

Louboutin Iriza Strass Crystal Pumps

Here from the super fantastic Christin Louboutin is the Iriza Strass Crystal Pump, the most fabulous sort of shoe to wear to the mass of devotion to the Saint Valentine. And then, afterwards, to the muy romantico dinner tête-à-tête with that certain someone who has your heart locked up in their reliquary of love.

The Manolo in Chile

Manolo says, for those friends of the Manolo who still sometimes cry out in the night, “why are we no longer being shown the shoes of super fantasticness,” who occasionally in the odd moment wonder what is happening with their old internet friend the Manolo, well, here is update.

For the next few months, the Manolo has forsaken his usual haunts for the muy dramático landscapes and muy dinámico cityscapes of Santiago de Chile. And, sadly, he must again report that the Chilenos are no more stylish than the last time the Manolo was here. The Chilenos, they are increasing everyday in the prosperity and stability, but they have disastrously adopted the worst elements of the American People of the Wal-Mart fashions, with the grotesque tatuajes, strange piercings, and ill-fitting clothing made in places where the tailoring is done with the small hatchet and duct tape.

Still, there are many compensations for enduring such affronts, such as this…

Caldillo de congrio and the bife de chorizo

The meal of the bife de chorizo and the caldillo de congrio, accompanied by the fine wine of Chile.

And soon, the Manolo will again pay the visit to the Museo de Moda, which he considers the best fashion museum in the world.

In the meantime, here is the pair of shoes that the Manolo would put onto the feet of the Chilean ladies, if only they would consent to the Manolo making them over.

Prada Embroidered Chunky Leather Sandals

It is summer in the Hemisphere of Southerness! What better way to celebrate the quirky excitement of the Santiago de Chile, than with the chunky platform sandals with the embroidered flowery details from the Prada!

JAN
2015
01

Happy Shoe Year, 2015!

Giorgio Armani Crystal-Covered Suede Pump

It is hard to believe that it is already the year 2015! Who knew we would still be here after all of these many years?

And now, the Manolo hopes that this new year may for you be filed with the most super fantastic developments and the most super fantastic-est of the shoes!