Manolo says, Furlagirl, one of the the Manolo’s dear internet friends, has asked the Manolo for advice.
Suppose you are a woman born in the same year as Isabella Rossellini, i.e. no long in the first glow of youth, but still prowling the halls of Harvey Nicks and Barney’s when in New York for the superfantastic everything. Now imagine that you emerged (by caesarian section) from your mother’s womb at 9 lbs, 10 oz. a big baby with big bones, prone to building big muscles. Suppose, even when you were the US size 4 (now the US size 10, trying to get back to US size 8) you always had terrible legs By this I mean: wide feet that many shoes do not fit; thick ankles so that ankle straps often will not do up; calves that no conventional bootmaker can fit; dimpled knees – and for the sake of the Manolo I will draw a veil over what lies above, but it’s not any better.
Here is my question: such a woman might have spent all her life thus far drawing the attention AWAY from the legs. Buying the shoes that were not superfantastic because she did not want anyone to notice the feet. Not, I hasten to say, buying the cheap, ugly shoes, but the shoes that do not make anyone say WOW! Yet here she is in these days post-Sex in the City, when everyone else she knows is crying shoes shoes shoes! Has this woman made a big mistake and she must start paying hundreds and hundreds of the British pounds for the Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos, (which are often too narrow) or should she trust her instincts and stick with the tactic of spending the money on handbags and jewelry?
The short answer of the Manolo is that you must never! Not ever? No never! Give up on the shoes. There are beautiful and alluring shoes for every sort of the foot, even those feets which are perhaps not perfect.
The longer answer it is that these sorts of the questions are so difficult to answer; difficult because the Manolo can sense the emotional anguish behind them. Worse, such questions are depressingly common, as perhaps the majority of the womens believe that their lower extremities are not what they should be.
One must remember that there are always the ways to minimize the physical flaws while still wearing the stylish clothes and shoes.
As the Manolo has noted in the past, if you are the big leg professional woman of the certain age, you may take as one of your stylistic models the Hillary Clinton, whose own flaws are not dissimilar. The Hillary she wears the pants suits with the flowing legs, and she is not, to the mind of the Manolo, unstylish.
As for the shoes, the Manolo is certain that the Furlagirl already knows the sensible advice for the women with the thick ankles: no flats, no ankle straps, no stiletto heels. However, what she perhaps does not know is that increasingly, super fantastic shoes are being made for the thick ankled, wide-feeted women, and that there is now the hope for those who’ve had to in the past suffer.
For the example…
This glamorous shoe from the Taryn Rose has the wide foot bed for the bigger foot and the metallic color and the flowery detail that the Manolo believes are of the moment.
Many times in the past the Manolo has mentioned the shoes of the Taryn Rose, as being suitable for the super fantastic girl with the large feets, and many times in the past some of the friends of the Manolo have complained about them not looking super fantastic, however, it has been the hard won experience of the Manolo that the Taryn Rose are the rare shoes that look much better on the feets than they do in the pictures.
Finally, and as always, the Manolo reminds you that you the proper attitude accounts for perhaps 75% of the mystical quality of attractiveness.
