Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, there are the all too frequent moments in fashion when the movie Zoolander seems like the documentary. Behold this scene recorded by Guy Trebay of the New York Times at the end of the Evil One’s most recent Chanel show (the theme of which was apparently, “Sexy Yetis Visit the Fortress of Solitude“).

But there was also a Woody Allen moment, and it occurred after the last of the models, clad in fake fur Wookie-wear, had sloshed through the puddles and offstage, and a small group of Mr. Lagerfeld’s industry friends tried to see and congratulate him.

For reasons that were not altogether clear but may have had something to do with pooled water and electrical cables lying about, the security guards formed a human wall blocking the Vogue editors Tonne Goodman and Grace Coddington; the Vanity Fair correspondent Ingrid Sischy; Lady Amanda Harlech; Babeth Djian, the editor of Numéro; and Jonathan Newhouse, the chairman of Condé Nast International, from going backstage.

BlackBerrys were fired up. Frantic calls were dialed. Well-shod hooves were stamped. Ms. Sischy upbraided the security force, assuring them that Mr. Lagerfeld would be both furious and “triste” if prevented from seeing his adoring fans. But the guards would not be budged. Passage backstage was impossible!

Then, in an abrupt reversal familiar to anyone who has ever encountered French bureaucracy, they changed their minds. The guards moved away, and the small crowd surged en masse to where Mr. Lagerfeld posed beside his ice sculpture surrounded on three sides by television crews. Still separated from her friend and idol, Ms. Sischy called out plaintively.

“Karl, Karl, Karl,” she trilled, and for a moment one was not in Paris at all but on a floe in the Arctic Ocean, on a fragment of ice snapped off the glacial shelf. “Karl, Karl,” Ms. Sischy called, her cry like that of a baby seal.

…ripe for the clubbing.

Manolo says, the website Collector’s Weekly has the interview with the super fantastic John Walford, author of the book The Seductive Shoe and shoe collector extraordinaire. Here is the very tasty excerpt.

Collectors Weekly: What were women wearing at the beginning of the 20th century?

Walford: This was just around the period when hemlines were beginning to creep up. Interestingly, shoes were almost a reaction to the fashions of the time. A lot of the Edwardian turn-of-the-century fashions were dripping in lace and making the most of the feminine figure, with padded buttocks, a padded bosom, and a tight waist. The look was ultra feminine. In contrast, shoes were often very masculine—little, tight Oxford shoes with low heels, very suffragette in comparison to the elaborate femininity of the costume itself. Even in eveningwear or with very fancy dresses, the footwear was still quite practical and masculine.

All that changed in the 1910s with the rise of the hem. There was the introduction of straps and color in womens footwear. Of course the leg was still not supposed to be seen in its naked form, so stockings were opaque. But the shoes themselves brought attention to the leg and the foot.

Shoe design took off in the 1920s and ’30s when bare legs and translucent stockings became acceptable. Suddenly shoes were brightly colored and highly decorated. French shoe designer André Perugia got his start in the 1920s, doing fantastical designs and colors and patterns for Paul Poiret. Roger Vivier designed shoes for Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s. This is when shoe design as we know it really began.

And now you must go read the whole thing, as it is remarkably informative and lengthy.

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

I like to think of them as the equivalent of a men’s tie – a way to really show off your personality, the best way to express your sense of style.

Little known fact: a lock David Hasselhoff’s chest hair sells for about €75 in Germany ($102 U.S.).

Good Girls vs. Bad Girls

Manolo says, people in the fashion business, they are so nice!

The real fun, though, was in the ladies’ room. I walked in and almost straight into Anna Wintour. “Hi, Anna,” I said brightly to Anna’s mirror reflection. Her large eyes in her large head flickered. And with the slightest nod, one that may have been a twitch, she left me standing at the sinks. I admit I felt a bit more than slighted, I was after all, on quite a few covers of her magazine, and the glance she gave me is one I’d give to an expired carton of milk. I am aware my expiration date (as a model) is long past, but a slight acknowledgment that I wasn’t the bathroom attendant would have been nice.

Clearly, this cannot be Anna Wintour, as there is no way Paulina Porizkova could have seen Ms. Nosferatu’s reflection in the mirror.

Manolo says, if you have not been paying attention to the celebrity news, Kanye West has had some things to say about the fashion bloggers and other playa haterz who have criticized him for wearing fur.

WHEN IT’S ALL SAID AND DONE, REMEMBER THE FEARLESS, REMEMBER THE DREAMERS, EMEMBER THOSE WHO REPRESENT THE GHETTO…THE FAIRY TALE OF NOTHING TO SOMETHING. I’M BRIEFLY SADDENED BY NEGATIVE COMMENTS, BUT I HAVE TO REMEMBER THOSE PEOPLE ARE SCARED, INCAPABLE OR JUST PLAIN IDIOTS. WE ARE THE F*CKING ROCK STARS BABY. NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE MY NIGGAS!! NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE! IT’S FUNNY TO ME WHEN FASHION BLOGGERS DOWN OUR OUFITS AND THEN SUPER JOCK OUTLANDISH SHIT ON THE RUNWAY BUT THEN THEY DRESS MAD PRUDE AND DON’T LIVE FASHION. WE LIVE IT MAN. F*CK THAT, WE LIVE IT!!! WE LIVE IT SO HARD PEOPLE LIVE THROUGH US! WE REPRESENT YOUR INNER SPIRIT!! THE CHILD IN US ALL, THE BRUTAL HONESTY, THE NAIVETY, THE BRAVE WARRIOR, THE ADRENALINE THAT ALLOWS A MOTHER TO LIFT A CAR IF HER CHILD WAS TRAPPED UNDER IT! REMEMBER, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN EVERYBODY DISSED MICHAEL JACKSON EVERY CHANCE THEY COULD. IMAGINE THE PRESSURE OF BEING A TRUE ICON. VERY FEW HUMAN BEINGS ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE CONSTANT HATE!!!

… and so forth.

Frankly, the Manolo does not disapprove of wearing the fur, but only if you have either a) gathered the animal from alongside the road where it has fallen following the unfortunate traffic accident, or b) you have killed the animal yourself in mortal combat, armed only with the most rudimentary stone tools.

If you have adhered to either of these conditions, then the Manolo thinks it is okay to convert your newly taken, all-organic pelt into the Louis Vuitton branded, combination muff and fanny pack.

Manolo says, the Manolo loves people who give sound advice about hats.

Manolo says, this photo is from what is perhaps the most depressing/hilarious/alarming/hilarious/distressing/depressing website the Manolo has ever seen, People of Walmart.

The Manolo has always tried to avoid comedy which mocks the downtrodden and impoverished (see the Manolo’s review of Borat). Intelligent people who tell such jokes, even if the jokes are funny, give evidence of their meanness of spirit. For the Manolo, the best humor is that which mocks the high and the mighty, exposing their foibles to the humanizing power of laughter.

But what the Manolo sees here, at the People of Walmart is so distressing that he cannot look away. It is the cautionary tale writ large, the portent of societal destruction, and even as he laughs, he still finds it one of the most depressing websites he has ever visited.

And now, allow the Manolo to here further quote Yeats.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Browse People of Walmart at your own peril.

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

“Maybe I lost money by not doing them when they were in fashion this time. But I don’t care. I did them in the 70s. That was enough for me. Never again! I don’t like them!”

It’s a bit drafty

Famous Footwear Trends

Celeb Trend: Gold Lame

Manolo says, the Manolo has been considering these photos for many days now, and has come to the conclusion that the real Bonnie and Clyde are more stylish and more elegant than the ersatz Bonnie and Clyde.

Why are the pair of malnourished rural outlaws able to outdo two of the most famous movie stars of the past fifty years, appearing in one of the most important films of the past fifty years?

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