Manolo says, gaze upon these beautiful flowery sandals from the atelier of the Maestro Manolo Blahnik and contemplate the arrival of spring, which at this minute seems so very far away.
Manolo says, there is the new exhibit that has just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute entitled Blog.mode Addressing Fashion and sponsored by the Maestro Manolo Blahnik. This morning there was the very good article in the Wall Street Journal about this show.
Fashion criticism has long been the exclusive realm of an insular band of journalists who traveled the big runway shows in Paris, Milan and New York and seemed to speak their own esoteric language. But the Met’s new exhibit, “Blog.mode Addressing Fashion,” is inviting anyone with an Internet connection to critique the clothes on display. With its new blog, blog.metmuseum.org/blogmode/, which went up this week, the august museum is also acknowledging that traditional fashion criticism is over.
The Manolo has been talking about this very thing, the democratization of fashion and fashion reportage and criticism for more than three years now.
The article continues.
“There’s a whole new field out there,” says Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator. He decided last summer to turn a retrospective of important garments acquired by the museum since 2000 into a three-way conversation of sorts between curator, designer and outside observers. “We wanted to further the practice of fashion interpretation and appreciation,” he says.
The exhibit features 65 garments arranged mostly chronologically, from a circa-1730 British waistcoat to Mr. Theyskens’s ballgown from a 2007 Nina Ricci collection. It contains work from prominent designers like Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons’ creative director, Rei Kawakubo, and Donna Karan. […]
In the middle of the exhibit, a “blog bar” invites viewers to post their own thoughts on the clothes. Curators decided to invite anyone to post comments on the blog after noticing over the past year and a half that fashion blogging is gaining momentum and respect. As influential blogs garner large audiences and advertisers shift ad spending to the Internet, designers and retailers are also beginning to view the medium as a new opportunity to reach people. […]
Many bloggers are “cultivated amateurs,” Mr. Koda said this week, while admiring the 18th-century red wool waistcoat. “I do not think bloggers will change the direction of fashion, but they can inform our interpretation of objects.”
The exhibit also illustrates how the Internet is making high-brow cultural institutions more accessible to a mainstream audience. “Curators aren’t these godlike creatures,” Mr. Bolton says.
[fashion]The Costume Institute’s democratic approach to criticism surprises some industry experts. “What is astonishing to me is that the fashion industry is allowing these people to become important,” says David Wolfe, creative director at the Doneger Group, a New York retail consultancy.
Here is the person who does not understand how the new media works.
The fashion industry can neither “allow” nor nor not allow the fashion bloggers to become important. It is not within their ability to restrict us from writing what we think about various things. Nor is it within their power to keep many of us from becoming popular voices about matters sartorial. And if we become popular voices, then they, the fashion nabobs, must pay attention to us and our readers, for if they do not, they risk alienating their market.
Thus the importance of the fashion bloggers is entirely dependent upon whether or not they are being read, and has very little to do with the acceptance or non-acceptance of the fashion industry.
The good news, however, is that there are many in the fashion world who understand what is going on.
But some designers find it refreshing. “Fashion is supposed to be this exclusive world that nobody has access to,” says Hussein Chalayan, who uses elements of technology in his designs, such as a remote-control-powered dress in the show. But the Internet is changing that perception. “At the end of the day when you have a critic write about your work, it is just one person who is supposed to be an expert,” he says. “Why is this taken more seriously [than a blogger]?”
For designers, bloggers also represent a useful tool for market research and brand promotion. Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, who sponsored the Met’s exhibition, says he thinks bloggers have been partly responsible for getting a younger generation of consumers excited about his shoes. One popular blogger who calls himself Manolo the Shoe Blogger has built a community of people who treat footwear criticism as if it were a team sport. “I love it,” Mr. Blahnik says.
Ayyyyyyy!
Did the Maestro Manolo just say that he “loves” the Shoe Blog of the humble shoeblogger?
This is one of the happiest days of the in Manolo the Shoebloggers entire life!! (Although, this is not the first time the Maestro has mentioned the Shoe Blog.)
The fact that Manolo Blahnik, himself, would sponsor the exhibition about the intersection of blogs and fashion says everything we need to know.
Manolo says, so, like the Shoeblogger you are dissatisfied with the Maestro Manolo Blahnik’s collection for men.
Do not despair! There is the other option!
It is the little known fact, outside of the equestrian circles, that the Maestro Manolo Blahnik has designed the very handsome collection of paddock boots, available in both mens and womens sizes, boots which any man would be most proud to wear!
Look, here is the Dory, one of the most attractive paddock boots the Manolo the Shoeblogger has ever seen.
And here is the Lera.
This is what the Manolo the Shoeblogger had hoped for when he first heard that the Maestro was designing the shoes for the men, not what recently appeared.
These boots are sold exclusively through the website Equestrian Chic, and they are not unreasonably priced for what they are, which is beautiful Manolo Blahnik boots for men.
Manolo says, many, many of the Manolo’s friends have written to him these past weeks asking him what thinks of the new mens shoe line being launched by his idol, the Maestro Manolo Blahnik.
When the Manolo first heard the rumor that the Maestro was making the men’s shoes, he was overjoyed. Finally, the genius cobbler of our age would produce something that the Shoeblogger could wear!
But, as one may guess from the fact that the Shoeblogger has delayed as long as possible speaking to this subject, the realization of the dream has fallen short.
Just look at this…
Ayyyyy! The suede open-toed slingback for men? Noooooo! No! No! No!
Query: Is this the sort of shoe the impeccably tailored Manolo Blahnik would wear himself?
Manolo says, today is the special day of obligation here at the Manolo the Shoeblogger’s humble shoe blog, for today is the birthday of our patron saint, the Maestro Manolo Blahnik, who was born on this day in 1942.
Naturally, we shall celebrate this holy day with feasts in the Maestro’s honor, toasts to his continued good health, and shoes!
Manolo says, our leader in all things super fantastic, his holiness, the Maestro Manolo Blahnik has been honored by the Queen!
HE has been worshipped by the glitterati for his unashamedly beautiful designs for years and now Manolo Blahnik has received the ultimate accolate: being made an honorary CBE, or Commander of the British Empire.
The Spanish-born, London-based shoe designer has received the award “in recognition of his status as one of the most successful and influential designers of our time”. Culture Secretary James Purnell, who presented the honour, commented: “Manolo Blahnik is one of only a handful of designers whose name is synonymous with their product. His avant garde designs mixed with timeless classics ensure that women all over the world are desperate to get their hands on a pair of Manolos. By basing his business in London, Mr Blahnik has played a huge part in enhancing the reputation of the capital as a leading fashion industry centre.”
And Manolo himself couldn’t be more thrilled with his new title.
“It is the greatest privilege to have been appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to receive such an honour for my small contribution to the fashion industry in Britain,” the modest designer said. “I’ll always be proud and grateful for it.”
Ayyyy! The Maestro Manolo is now the Commander Maestro Manolo!
P.S. Many thanks to the Manolo’s friend Poochie the Shoe Lover for alerting him to this.
Manolo says, Simon Doonan of Barney’s dishes the most intimate secrets of our beloved master, Manolo Blahnik.
MANOLO’S GHOST: Manolo has an 18th century house in the town of BATH England. The living room is haunted by the horrid ghost of an old dowager. The ghost is wearing dreadful shoes so Manolo refuses to acknowledge her presence
[…]MANOLO’S MAGICAL BIRTH: Manolo Blahnik hails from the Canary Islands. On the day his mother gave birth a canary with a deformed beak was twitter outside her window making a noise which sounded like MANOLO! MANOLO! Et voila!
[…]MANOLO’S PHILOSOPHY: Manolo hates vulgarity or cheesiness of any kind with the exception of Mae West who he adores.
His birth was accompanied by omens!
What more does one need to say than this?
Manolo says, here is the most amusing article about the Neiman Marcus 100th anniversary celebration, part of which was the giant western-themed party at the Cotton Bowl. The best part, however, is that one of the attendees was the Maestro Manolo Blahnik, kitted out completely in cowboy western style!
As the cocktail hour wore on, guests wandered between pig races, dressing goats in tutus and wigs (yes, it’s true) and posing for pictures with a longhorn steer. A few brave souls signed waivers and rode the mechanical bull. As Andrew Rosen was climbing aboard, Carmen Marc Valvo cried, “Take off your glasses! Everyone says it’s slippery. This is crazy. There’s no seat.” After Rosen took a tumble, Valvo took his turn and hung on for 25 bucks of the bull before being flung. “I’ll take it. That was fun. Now let’s go look at the pigs,” he said.
[…]
As Chris Isaak played through his repertoire — thanking Neiman’s for inviting him and his band because “we really didn’t have anyplace else to go. Well, I mean, we do have other places to go, but it’s great to be playing Neiman Marcus. We could have been playing Sears Roebuck” — guests continued to discuss business, the balmy weather and their own clothing. British jeweler Stephen Webster, who’s been on a tour of Neiman’s throughout the U.S., landed in Dallas that morning and, like many, headed directly to a Western gear store to grab his cowboy hat, boots and cowboy shirt. “It seemed like the right idea,” he said, before adding: “Although I don’t know when I’ll wear it again.”
Manolo Blahnik did the same the night before to get his getup, which he paired with his own bespoke Anderson & Shepherd double-breasted jacket. “My feet are killing me,” he moaned, pointing to his cowboy boots after doing some cha-chas on the sidelines. Why didn’t he just design his own? “No time, so I bought these at some shop in town, along with everything else. I’ve always admired John Wayne.”
But proving more than anything that the night was all about fashion, Blahnik had his own twist on the Western theme: “It’s all vintage, honey — vintage. I insisted.”
And here is the other picture of the Maestro Manolo himself, in the cowboy boots and the 20-gallon hat.
He seems to be having the most fabulous time, despite the foot pain.
Manolo says, this is the most unusual article the Manolo has read all month.
“Passion becomes the first thing in both of my businesses, whether it’s a new collection I’m selling to Neiman-Marcus or talking to Ernie about a bull or selling semen,” Malkemus said Friday.
And that is perhaps the best fashion-related quote ever to appear in any article ever, anywhere!
And now you must see it in its context…
She’s a kept woman - a showgirl - living large on the East Coast thanks to the fortunes of Manolo Blahnik shoes.
It must be said she’s never worn a pair of the mile-high stilettos.
She’s a cow.Vivian, a 9-year-old Holstein, makes her home at a showcase cattle farm begun in recent years by the two men who own Manolo Blahnik USA.
She took a blue ribbon Thursday at a dairy show here and visits Madison Oct. 2 to 6 for the World Dairy Expo, which bills itself as “the international meeting place for dairy.”
That a wildly successful shoe merchant - whose product was made famous thanks to TV’s “Sex and the City” - found a Midas touch in a different realm is simple, as he tells it.
Fifty-three-year-old George Malkemus, president and co-owner of Manolo Blahnik USA, said it’s about a passion, hiring the right people and listening to them.
Some of his top people are Wisconsin-bred experts who were reared on the state’s dairy farms and educated in its schools.
“Passion becomes the first thing in both of my businesses, whether it’s a new collection I’m selling to Neiman-Marcus or talking to Ernie about a bull or selling semen,” Malkemus said Friday.
The reference is to Ernie Kueffner, 56, who grew up on a dairy farm in Hartford, Wis., and earned a business degree from Marquette University in 1973.
He’s part of a brain trust that has led to successes that Malkemus’ Arethusa Farm, in Litchfield, Conn., has had in breeding and showing cattle.
One of Arethusa’s cows, Veronica, a Jersey, was supreme champion at the World Dairy Expo in 2006. She was the top in her breed there in 2005. She also was reserve supreme champion - or No. 2 overall - in 2004.
Champion show cows made from Manolo Blahnik shoes! Usually it is the other way around.
Truly we live in the age of miracles and wonders!
