Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, perhaps it is because it is fall here in the upside down part of the world, but the Manolo has been thinking about the boots these past few weeks.

Happily for many of the Manolo’s internet friends, it is spring in the northern hemisphere, which means that many of the most handsome and wonderful boots are deeply discounted in the price.

What is that you say, “But Manolo, the summer is coming and the boots, they are hot on my feets when it is hot outside!”

To which the Manolo replies, trust the Manolo, the cold, it will return quickly enough so as to make buying the boots now seem the wise decision later.

Here are three deeply discounted boots that would work well in almost any super fantastic girl’s wardrobe.

Above is the Sierra Air Tall Boot from Cole Haan, the classically stylish boot with the modern Nike technology that reputedly makes them super comfortable for the working and walking girl. Mira! They are 46% off of the usual price, the savings of more than $230 American dollars!

Here is the Danya from Taryn Rose, the handsomely practical, everyday sort of boot that can be worn almost anytime of the year. It is on the sale, 35% off of the regular price, the savings of almost $200 of the American dollars.

Finally, here from Micheal Kors is the super sexy, super sleek, Ava, the boot which is on sale for more than 50% off of the regular price, the savings of nearly $470 of the American dollars!

Manolo says, here is the Manolo´s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I am going to LA in April to visit an old high-school boyfriend, whom I haven´t seen in almost 28 years. He has proposed various outings at the beach, rollerblading on the boardwalk, climbing in the mountains, and visiting clubs in Malibu, but alas! I am the NY girl and possess very few action/adventure type shoes. What should I wear?

Laura

Manolo says, Ayyyy! The Perfect Chick Flick!

Our heroine (to be played by Diane Lane) has reached the Age of the Middle with the typical sort of romantic scars. Perhaps the Mr. Right has never come along, or perhaps he whom she thought was Mr. Right turned out to be Mr. Having-It-Off-With-the-Co-Worker.

Either way, in the opening scene she is alone, just her, the television, and the giant bowl of Rocky Road, when she notices that the name of the composer of the heartfelt and soaring music which accompanies the latest film vesion of the minor Jane Austen classic bears the name suspiciously similar to that of her first boyfriend.

“I mean, come on, how many Andrew W. Gabblefarbs can there be, right?”

Ten minutes, and one furious session of Google-fu later, and she has the email!

Cut to the parking lot outside of the Moonshadows Lounge, on the Pacific Coast Highway, where, following the full day of rollerblading up the side of the Santa Monica Mountains, her rediscovered love, Andy, taller and handsomer than ever, has taken her for the nightcap. As he helps her into the passenger side of his spotless Bentley, he steals the sly kiss… powerfully reciprocated!

Fade to black.

What can be more action/adventure than the cowboy boot, which is also very “of the moment” in Los Angeles. Here is the N4539 5/4 from Lucchese, perfert to pair with jeans, or barelegged with the short black dress.

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I am a college student and I’m looking for a comfortable flat boot, since I will be running around campus this year. My dream boot is knee high, suede, and cheap enough that I can buy it. Please help.

Chris

Manolo says, as the long-time readers of the Manolo know, the Manolo always recommends that the poor girl should save up her monies, so as to get the most super fantastic and well-made boots possible, as such feetwear will not only give the wearer more pleasure, but will also be more durable in the long run.

However, the Manolo also knows what it is like to have cold feets and be poor, so poor that you must fashion your own super fantastic snowboots out of the hides you have harvested from the dead animals found alongside the freeway, and which you have laboriously chewed into suppleness, Eskimo-style, and then stitched into shape and stuffed with dry grass for warmth. And which looked most wonderful, even if the smell of marmot lingered.

Look here is the Fauna Tall Boot from Timberland. It is not just cozy warm, reasonably priced, and good-looking, it is also waterproof!

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I just got invited to hang with a friend at the Sundance Film Festival, and as a native of the DC Metro area I jumped at it. I hate missing the Inauguration, but the crowds—yikes! Anyway, my friend promised there would be snowboarding, good food, and a party with celebrities. He says it’s going to be cold so I should wear boots. All I have are hot stiletto-heeled boots and crunchy granola hiking boots. What would you recommend?

Lillbet

Manolo says, ayyyy! Such good luck to be invited to the fantabulous Sundance Festival of Films, where the high and the mighty of Hollywood, hob and nob with each other and with the swirling mob of aspiring independent filmmakers, each of whom is desperately attempting to find the distributor for his or her strangely familiar master work.

In the space of the few days, one will be able to see many movies about sassy pregnant teenagers in the suburban upper Midwest; raunchy-but-good-hearted sex comedies about loutish men who in real life would be doomed to solitude; talky movies about drug addicts/mental patients who are mathematical/musical geniuses; and at least one picture about the gay gauchos who express their forbidden love amidst the majestic scenery of the Argentine pampas.

Look here is the Tabitha from La Canadienne. So cute, so weatherproof!

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I’m going to a graduate school holiday potluck with my boyfriend. I have never been to the school and I am not sure what to wear. My style is pretty conservative. What do you recommend?

Sandra

Manolo says, Ayyy! Merry Nonspecific Period of Non-Oppressive Festivities to all!

Let the Tofurkey and Macrobiotic, Bargain-Priced Sprouts flow like organic wine!

And now, let the Manolo stipulate that if the phrase “graduate school potluck” does not strike dread into your heart, you are not the feeling person. The very words alone conjure up the sort of lugubrious hilarity and culinary achievement one associates with Moldovan politburo lunches, sans the lubricating effects of vodka.

It is the little known fact that graduate students are among the most miserable peoples in the world.

Yes, the first year begins in high spirits, but then gradually, inch by inch, the lonely misanthropic gloom settles in, brought on by the low pay, the low status, the low self-esteem, and above all the low muffled beating of the unfinished dissertation, which, like the tell-tale heart, lies insistently beneath the floorboards of the mind.

Of the course, no reason you, the non-grad student, should not be cheery. Here is the Laugh from Franco Sarto, the perfectly partylicious affordable black ankle bootie.

Manolo says, here is the latest column of the Manolo for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I’m going to my boyfriend’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving next week. The problem is that I’m a Republican and my boyfriend’s parents are ardent Democrats. They’re very nice, but they are also super-political, so I’m sure I’ll be subjected to lots of gloating. (My boyfriend is no help at all. He’s a libertarian.) What do you recommend to help me get through the weekend?

Cecilia

Manolo says, America, the Manolo begs of you, please, stop! The campaigns are over. Put away the yard signs, and the buttons, and the flyers, and the full-sized votive statue of your favorite candidate that you have carved from sandalwood and hand-painted in realistic colors, and which is now seated in the easy chair in the family room.

Now is the time to come together in the spirit of comity and mutual affection, to remember, during this joyful holiday of Thanksgiving, that we have much for which to be thankful, like roasted turkey, and televised football, and little children who are dressed up like John Smith and Squanto in construction paper costumes.

And so, please, for one weekend, neither gloat, nor grumble. Be happy for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon us.

Blessings such as this handsome, tall, suede boot from Peter Kaiser, the Levke.

Manolo says, it is Monday and you are back at your desk, and frankly, for once you are so happy to be there, although not nearly as happy as you are to know that tomorrow this election madness finally ends.

This is absolutely the last time you register you political party as “independent”. Indeed, your phone must have rung forty times this weekend, what with the robo-calls, and the pollsters, and the polite young people from both of the campaigns, trying to sway your vote, or begging for money.

Nearly as bad as the phone calls, was the constant bombardment of the television ads. Mendacity and hyperbole, bombast and misdirection, and numberless attempts to frighten and bully you into voting one way or the other, and those were just the ads for the county supervisors.

And then there is the entire problem of social discourse. You have spent the past several months tip-toeing around your acquaintances and business colleagues, speaking obliquely and avoiding certain topics, lest these peoples turn out to be the avidly unreasonable supporters of one faction or the other.

One minute you are talking about taking your nephews to the zoo, because they “love the elephants” and the next, you are embroiled in the heated argument about tax policy with someone you barely know.

Oy, but this is tiresome. You long for the days when participatory democracy meant voting for the homecoming queen, not trying to sort out the various currents and subcurrents of the modern American political system.

But, what can you do? You are the good citizen, and so you do your part, educating yourself and participating as best you can, even if you find all of it about as satisfying as the trip to the dentist.

And now you need the break, the long, pleasant, politics-free break.

Wait. What’s this in the Post? “The 2012 race commences first thing Wednesday morning.”

“Ayyyyy! Manolo take me away!”

This level of weary malaise and alarm calls for something super fantastic, some spectacular, something Louboutain!

Boots, platform, tall, fantastic, super.

Manolo says, at the moment, for the Manolo living in Buenos Aires is somewhat confusing. The calendar says it is time to get out the sweaters and carve the pumpkins, but the trees and the flowers say it is spring, when the young Manolo’s fancy turns to thoughts of sandals.

So, as the Manolo dreams of strappy flats in festive colors, the various letters from the Manolo’s internet friends all speak of boots and chilly weather.

Happily, the Manolo is the empathetic person possessed of the powerful imagination, and so he knows just what his friends mean, and can easily imagine the solution, in this case these uber-handsome, stacked-heel, mini-platform boots from Costume National, boots so wonderfully attractive that traffic on the main thoroughfare in that cutesy New England town will stop.

What New England town is that, you may ask?

Why it is Upper West Stockfordbridgehamptown!

You know, the place with the little village green with the white Congregational church and colonial tavern. That place, where you will spend the weekend with the tall, blond man in the Barbour jacket, looking at leaves, and searching through the antique stores for copper bed-warming pans and novelty andirons.

Manolo says, yes, it is only Tuesday, and the recent economic news has been gloomy, but that does not mean that one cannot start thinking about what to wear this weekend. Look, here is the Khloe by Beverly Feldman, the elegant and luxurious ankle bootie with exactly the right amount of rhinestone bling.

What’s this? The Dow Jones Average had it’s single best day ever? Happy Days are here again! Celebrate in beautiful shoes!