Dear Manolo,

After many re-heelings and much tender loving care, my favorite pair of super-practical, low-heeled, black leather ankle boots have finally given
up the ghost. These are boots I’ve worn a least once a week for almost a decade, so I’m pretty broken up. Can you please help me find a new pair?

Margot

Manolo says, oh, how well the Manolo knows the six stages of the shoe-loss grief–denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and shopping–
however, it is the personal letters like this that bring home to us the tragedy of losing the dearly beloved one after the long slow decline.

It is not easy letting go and moving on, knowing that you will never again experience the pleasure of your dearest footwear friend.

And, yet, as the writer of the Ecclesiastics reminds us, “to every shoe there is the season … the time to wear, and the time to closet; the time
to keep, and the time to cast away.” The message is simple, when your shoe has reached the end, it is the mercy to let it go and ease its
passage out of your closet and into the recycling bin as painlessly and with as much dignity as is possible.

Do not worry, dear lady, undoubtedly your old boots would want you to be happy, would want you to find the new boots to cherish your feets.

Here are the Step from Stuart Weitzman the low-heeled boots that will perhaps ease the aching heart, especially as they are on the sale!

Dear Manolo,

Now that winter has officially arrived, I need a pair of comfy, handsome, tall winter boots that suitable for the conditions. Also, I should mention that I want something stylish enough to wear into work, if possible. Please help.

Cynthia

Manolo says, for the Manolo—who has all of the tolerance for the wintery weather you would expect of the person raised in the balmy Mediterranean—winter means the few days of wettish, coolish weather, followed by the hasty trip to Ibiza to recover.

Thus, it is foreign to the Manolo, this Midwestern idea that for several months each year you must daily bundle up like the Yukon Cornelius and go out into the frosty world to face the Abominable Snow Beast in the hand-to-the-hand combat, armed with nothing but the snow tires and the long-handled ice scraper.

Unfortunately, the Manolo’s friends from the great frozen north tell the Manolo that the only alternative to learning to like being out and about in the snow, is to languish inside your house, crouching by the fire, hoping that the cable television and booze supply do not go out, otherwise you will be quickly eyeballing the various members of your family like Jack Nicholson in the Shining.

Look! Here is the Gira from Born, the tall, shearling-lined boots that will keep your toes warm, while having giving you more than enough fashion snap in the worst conditions.

Dear Manolo,

Thanks to a recent unpleasant experience with a late-season hurricane which shall remain nameless, I have come to the realization that I need to upgrade my rain boots to something sturdier and less girlish. Please help.

Angela

Manolo says, it is true! The pink girly gum boots that were fine for skipping down the street to the patisserie in the light mist would likely prove unsuitable for wearing while chain-sawing into kindling the oak tree which has crushed your Prius.

But this is why the five-hundred square feet walk-in shoe closets were invented, no? Because you need many different sorts of the shoes for many different sorts of the occasions, including the various situations that arise during the natural and/or manmade disasters.

For the example, by the Manolo’s reckoning, to be properly dressed during the recent hurricane would have required at least five different pairs of the shoes, to include the it-won’t-be-so-bad-hurricane-party shoes, the ayyyy!-we-are-all-going-to-die-drunk shoes, the oy-it-was-worse-than-imagined-hangover shoes, the what-to-wear-to-the-Red-Cross-shelter shoes, and finally, and most importantly, the shoes of did-not-listen-to-the-warnings-remorsefulness.

As for what sturdy foul weather boots the Manolo would recommend for the young lady who vows to take matters more seriously next time, the Manolo is partial to the Hunter Huntress, the traditional tall wellington that has served generations of unflappable English ladies very well.

Dear Manolo,

Can you please help me? I’m having a hard time deciding on my Halloween costume this year. It’s come down to a choice between Morticia Addams (with a very short skirt), a Sexy Librarian, or Sarah Palin. Which do you think would be the best? What sort of shoes should I wear with it?

Emmy

Manolo says, the Manolo remembers when the Halloween was a holiday for only the little kids, who dressed up like the balleina, or the cowboy, or the Superman, and took delight in the seasonal joys of carving the pumpkins, eating the candy, and “scaring” the neighbors.

But then, sometime around the 1995, the Halloween metamorphosed into the fully adult holiday, in which the little kids are almost the after thought. Now it has become our annual Brazen Festival of Hoochie Unbound, the Dionysian bacchanal in which even the most matronly soccer mom must, for the single evening, put on the micro-mini dress and halter-top and become the Sexy Nurse, or the Sexy Pirate Lady, or the Sexy Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Manolo suggests, this year, tossing out the old, exhausted Sexy Something Halloween template, and going with the more creative costuming. Instead of tarting up the mundane, (such as the Sexy Meter Maid), try to de-tart something naturally alluring, such as the Unsexy Stripper, the Unsexy Scarlet Johansson, or the Unsexy Librarian (which, at this point, would be the radical departure from the new Halloween tradition.)

Here is the Park tall boot from the Stuart Weitzman, something that would look great under the full-length, tweed skirt that is the centerpiece of your Unsexy Victorian Trollop outfit.

Dear Manolo,

Now that Fall is here, I find I need some new boots, something that will keep me warm and dry. Did I mention that I’m a poor working girl? I am, so can you please suggest something reasonably priced?

Lola

Manolo says, as always the Manolo’s advice is to save up your moneys and purchase the best quality, most super fantasticest shoes possible, as nothing can give as much satisfaction as wearing the pair of beautiful, well-made shoes.

However, the Manolo knows what it is like to be the poor person during the rainy cold season, the poor person who must fashion his own super fantastic winter boots out of plastic soda bottles and bits of home insulation that you have harvested from the abandoned building site near the cave where you keep your Madame Alexander doll collection.

Unfortunately, despite the Manolo’s boundless sympathy, when it comes to the weatherproof boots, unless you are the wizard with the duct tape and the fake fur, you will have to spend some money to get something that will both look good, keep out the weather, and last the long time.

This is why the Manolo is especially fond of the La Canadienne boots. They are made in Montreal, by the French Canadians; people who live in igloos but still care about what is appearing on the runways in Paris.

Here is the Mazy from La Canadienne. It is not cheap, but it is the solid long-term investment in comfort, the sort of handsome weatherproof boot that will be wearable for many winters to come.

Wolves? Ha!

Would that the rampaging wolf packs were your main concern.

Yes, if you live in the Montana, or the Wyoming, the wolf might occasionally, maybe, snatch up the unguarded toy poodle, or the haughty house cat (who probably had it coming), but even there the danger to your nuclear family and home is negligible. Although, certainly, most 21st century husbands, now reduced to the largely supernumerary functions, such as 3,000 mile oil changes and ordering new aluminum siding, would relish the chance to reassert their Viking bona fides by driving off the pack of wolves while armed with nothing more than the large stick and the AR-15.

Ayyy! Such is the stuff of suburban male fantasy! But, thanks to modern high-powered cartridges and infrared scopes, our ancient and noble canine vermin are easily kept at bay.

Unfortunately, modern vermin are not so easily dissuaded from their depredations. Indeed, between the tax collector, the bank, the politician, and the nice man at the gas station who, where this 18th century, would be standing the the side of the road wearing the mask and holding the brace of pistols, you have never been more beset on all sides.

And this says nothing about the various indignities foisted upon you at the place of the work, where your immediate supervisor, Mr. Potiphar, has earned the well deserved reputation as the slave driver.

But, what can you do? When has life not been the struggle? When have the metaphoric wolves not been at the non-metaphoric door?

Look! Beautiful and sophisticated booties!

This is the Diaz Leather Ankle Boot from Maestro Manolo Blahnik, the sort of shoe that heralds the coming winter with style and seriousness.

…and each one is at least 70% off some seriously hefty (as in $1000+) price tags.

These five unique offerings are available in extremely limited sizes, but if they’re your size and your style, you’re in luck.

Salvatore Ferragamo Berg sculpted wedge sandal
The question is not are they too Bianca Jagger; it’s are they Bianca Jagger *enough*?

The sculpted precision of the cut-out keeps these bisque suede wedges from being just another pair of campy kicks. For an absolutely horrible variation on the curvilinear theme hop on over to the other blog to play Is It A Shoe? Hint: I don’t really think it’s a shoe.

Ralph Lauren Collection Hannie riding boot
I don’t know who’s doing the accessories behind good ol’ Ralphie Lipschitz these days, but they knocked this one out of the park. Ralph Lauren Goes Horsey is Ralph Lauren at his best. I’m also pretty sure it’s the name of a mail-order-only DVD that comes in discreet brown packaging.

Ralph Lauren Collection Jearra t-strap sandal
I love vachetta leather the way nicer, less interesting people love their kids. Traditionally you’d have to wait for time and the elements to give your vachetta its characteristic patina, but it looks like the clever calzolai in Lauren’s Italian workshop have not just tooled the quarter and the platform but treated it, too.

Jil Sander snakeskin pump
I surprised myself by liking these since, as a rule, the sophisticated severity of Jil Sander leaves me cold.  Yet I would totally wear these to toughen up a too-sweet outfit without doing something predictable like spikes or a lug heel. Things have been topsy turvy at JS since February when Kraftwerk-enthusiast and known Belgian Raf Simons left to suck the joy out of Dior one meticulously soulless bar suit at a time.

Hilde SA Feather Sandal from Donna Karan

How to clean, prep and refresh feathered accessories:

You’ll need:

White vinegar in a spray bottle or atomizer capable of a fine mist
Hairspray (not the cheapest stuff in the store)
Firm-bristled paint or makeup brush (optional)
Tea kettle or a steam wand

Directions:

If your feathers are filthy, brush away as much of the dirt or dust as possible, always working with the grain.

Get a nice head of steam on your kettle or your wand. I have both and like to use the kettle because it makes me feel like I’m a endearingly kooky but accident-prone inventor/amateur witch in a Disney flick, a la Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury, respectively.

Take your feathered shoe (or hat, or whatever), hold upside down and run the feathered part through the steam, moving fairly constantly until the feathers are puffed up and damp (not soaking). Gently spritz the feathers with the vinegar and let dry almost completely. Then give them a gentle coat or two of that not-terrible hairspray and coax the feathers into the generally desired shape.

The steam gives life to your feathers and guards against breakage while the vinegar cleans and shuts down the plume shaft so they stay cleaner and look shiny. The hairspray is a light protectant and shaper. If your feathers are white, skip the hairspray or use a teensy bit of liquid gum Arabic dissolved in water in its stead. You can get it at any crafts store. Steaming also perks up floppy flowers and other fabric embellishments.

Dear Manolo,

I think I need a pair of new booties to go with my pink skinny jeans. What do you recommend?

Karis

Manolo says, yes, it is true, colorful panting— pink, green, yellow, red— is all the rage among the hipsters, fashionistas, and style setters. In fact the trend is so ubiquitous, that it is probably actually out, and we have just not gotten the news yet.

But such is always the way when one chases to the trends, no?

One minute, everyone in the world is laying down on their beds desperately trying to squeeze into the Gloria Vanderbilt, super-slim-fit designer disco jeans, and the next it is all “Come on Eileen”, and now you have to go down to the hardware store and buy the overalls and bandanas so as to achieve that sexy-retro-junky-hobo-gamine look that was so popular in the summer of 1983. But as soon as you button up your Big Smith’s and started to look for someone to teach you to play the penny whistle, it was time for the “Girls Just Wanted to Have Fun”, and, well frankly, that whole Lauper-based period is best forgotten. (Your hair has only recently recovered from what you did to it then.)

Manolo says, fashion is overrated. Style is underrated. Be your own style icon!

Look! Here is the York bootie from Michael by Michael Kors, the platform ankle bootie that is trendy-hot in the purple (which the Manolo loves) and more timeless in the conservative black version.

Manolo says, here is the cotton, floral-print, ankle boots, the Erdem from Nicholas Kirkwood.

Here is the second angle, showing Lucite floating heel feature/thingy/whatzit.

On the one of the hands, it is like the modern architectural thought-experiment that has gone awry. (Lucite! Flowers! Block!) On the other of the hands, it is both arresting and fun, which is the difficult combination to manage.

So, dearest internet friend, if the money were not the objection…would you wear it?

Dear Manolo,

In September, my employer is sending me out to the North Dakota oil patch for two weeks of tours, meetings, and familiarization with this part of its business. I’m a city girl from New York, so what do I know from North Dakota? I’ve been told that I’ll need boots for the visits to the work sites. Please recommend something appropriate

Jennifer

Manolo says, asking the Manolo for advice on what to wear to the North Dakota oil rig is like asking the peacock how to fish for the herring. He might have the theoretical understanding of the process, but could offer no practical advice.

However, from what the Manolo has heard, the oil boom part of the North Dakota is currently the manliest place in the entire forty-eight lower states, filled to bursting with manly working men going about their oily business as truck drivers, roustabouts, toolpushers, and other assorted roughnecks.

And it is not just manly by occupation, but also because so many workingmen have poured into the region over the past two years that women are now greatly out numbered in that part of the state. Which means, of the course, that no matter what the Manolo’s friend wears she will be considered one of the most attractive and stylish women in town.

Here is the Timberland Pro-Titan 6” with the safety toe, which will look smart with your jeans as you tromp through the mud of North Dakota.