Dear Manolo,

At the end of June I’m going to Dubai for a business conference. For the meetings, I’m going to be in strict business attire, but afterwards, I plan on dressing up and hitting the malls and the restaurants. What I need is a pair of sandals that will look great for both shopping and dining out afterwards.

Andrea

Manolo says, what could be better than Dubai in the summer? Where the outside temperature at noon is 615 degrees, Celsius!

Ah, but inside the Dolce-Gabbana-Prada-Gucci-Tiffany mega store, where the richy-rich oil sheikhs pay for their purchases with suitcases of gold bullion, the air is conditioned down to the very lovely 72 degrees, American.

Indeed, who else but the oil sheikhs would build something in the desert as crazy-beautiful as the Ski Dubai, the giant indoor ski resort in the Mall of the Emirates, where the temperature is always just below freezing, and the bunny hill beckons.

Of the course, one must celebrate such ostentatious defiance of Mother Nature with beautiful shoes, although, buying the new shoes to go to Dubai is like building the indoor ski resort in Siberia. The shoe shopping in Dubai is perhaps the best in the world. Everything is available from the most humble sandals, through the best Louboutins, Zanottis, and Blahniks, and even the bespoke shoes can be ordered.

However, if you must have the shoes before you go, the Manolo suggests this DSquared2 platform sandal, the Gladiator Maine in the brick color.

Dear Manolo,

I’ve been invited to spend Memorial Day Weekend with my boyfriend’s family
in the Hamptons. The trouble is, I’m a poor working girl. Can you please
recommend some summery flat sandals that will look good enough to impress
these people without bankrupting me?

Molly

Manolo says, as always, the Manolo suggests saving your monies and buying the most super fantastic shoes one can afford, for such purchases will give the most satisfaction over the long term, in comfort, beauty, and admiration from those who know quality when they see it.

But the Manolo also sympathizes with the poor girls, who must work the double shifts at their dismal dreary jobs in the new media sweatshops, posting on the corporate blogs and twittering and facebooking all day long for the Man.

Indeed, the Manolo knows exactly what it is like to be poor, so poor that you must fashion your own super fantastic, impress-the-rich-people-in-the-Hamptons sandals out of strangely colored shells and tangled fishing line you have collected near the wastewater outlet pipe that discharges near the pier under which you are sleeping.

And so he would recommend that you Gwyneth from the Sam Edelman as being the moderately priced, cutely blingish flat sandals that will keep the people of the Hamptons moderately appeased.

In the meantime, why not assuage that free-floating anxiety about expensive summer camps and home-alone children by looking at the crazy colorful shoes from Sergio Rossi?

On the one of the hands, artificial uppers.

On the other of the hands, super fantastic colorful plastic!

Dear Manolo,

After four years of hard work, I’m finally graduating next week with a degree in Renaissance Studies. Happily, I have already managed to find a lovely job that starts three weeks after graduation. (Yeah me!) Can you recommend a pair of shoes for the graduation ceremony, something fun?

Marielle

Manolo says, it is the time of the graduation, when the adult peoples don the ridiculous medieval gown and cap, and listen to the speeches about boldly seizing the future.

“Today, as you go forth from this place to boldly seize the future, remember what you have learned here in this institution, both in the classroom and out of it. Indeed, some of you will never forget what you learned just two weeks ago, during the aftermath of Fraternity Row’s Monster Spring Bash and Riot.

“And now, let me take a moment to give a special welcome to our official guests sitting among you in the audience, the sheriffs deputies, parole officers and bail bonds men, whose recent tireless efforts have made this joyous occasion possible.”

Ayyy! The life of the mind!

As for what shoes to wear, because your graduation outfit will be covered by the black gown of drabness, you will need something that “pops” as you walk across the stage, the statement shoes that that will help you boldly stride into the seizable future.

Here is the Nealla from Pour la Victoire in the bold lilac. It is also available in coral, and taupe for those who may be more timid.

Dear Manolo,

For Mother’s Day, I’m planning a big afternoon brunch in my back yard for my mother and couple dozen assorted siblings, aunts, and cousins. So I’m looking for a pair of flat sandals to go with the simple sun dress that will be under my apron. No thongs, please, as the shoes need to stay on my feet as I go back and forth to the kitchen.

Melinda

Manolo says, ayyyy! The Dia De La Madre, it is only the one week away! What are you going to do to honor that most special lady in your life, the mother?

Will you settle for the traditional bruncheon of the Artichoke Crab Legs Benedict at the Lobster of Redness? Or will you attempt something more ambitious, such as doing the special celebratory meal with the family on your recently completed patio?

On the one of the hands, all you can eat cheese biscuits.

On the other of the hands, have you made the hollandaise sauce from the scratch recently? And do you have the number of the poison control taped to the refrigerator?

Whatever the case, nothing says “I Love You, Mom, “ quite like the Sunday brunch, unless it is the giant, lace-bedecked greeting card with the endearingly floral scene on the outside and the finest rhyming doggerel about the long-suffering nobility motherhood on the inside.

Here is the Maia Lush from Bernardo, the cute flat sandal in the dove color, with the intriguing hook-and-eye details on the strap.

Dear Manolo,

I was recently promoted to a fairly important job, one that requires I be presentable for the public and the press. Because I work in a place with long, long hallways, can you recommend a pair of shoes that will allow me to walk about comfortably while still looking professional?

Allison

Manolo says, oh how well the Manolo remembers that day at the shoe shop of the Mercurio Albornoz y Bahamonde when he was finally allowed to interact with the public.

The Manolo had begun his career in the backroom of the shop, as the Second Assistant to the Associate Boot Black, working diligently, ten hours each day, keeping the shoeshine rags in good order. But after only seven months of this hard work the Manolo was promoted to management, as the Sub-Director of Tissue Paper, responsible for helping the Director of the Boxing and Re-Boxing oversee the placement of the shoes into the boxes. It was in this role, that the Manolo finally encountered the customers.

Happily, the Manolo felt confident as he carried the bundles of fresh tissue paper to the stock boys in the front, because he knew that all of the customers were admiring the beautiful two-tone, black-and-white spectator oxfords that the Manolo wore on that first day in his new position.

Such is the power of handsome and appropriate shoes!

Look, here is the Camelia from the Taryn Rose, the smart, comfortable pump with the little flowery cutout details.

Look! Shoes!

It is the Leila Glitter Metallic and Mesh Sandals from the Jimmy Choo, the perfect antidote to the Monday sighs.

Dear Manolo,

My mom is going to appear on a local television show and is bringing me as her plus one. I need something that is casual but also comfortable.

Elisa

Manolo says, the Manolo has not asked, nor was the information volunteered, but the Manolo is now burning to know the context of this motherly appearance on the local television program. Indeed, in the absence of information, the possibilities to exercise the imagination are deliciously endless.

For the example, the Manolo wonders, is the Mother of Eliza being feted on the Channel 37 Action Eyewitness News at Noon for her recent victory in the National Corn Flake Bake Off? (Once tasted, who could ever forget Mom’s Crunchy Chicken Kiev, Iowa-Style?)

Or, perhaps, Mama Eliza is being arraigned on criminal charges resulting from the unfortunate events that occurred during the release of her new rap gangsta album?

Maybe, instead, she is the community activist, working to save the habitat of the greater crested greeble, who has finally been invited to say her piece on that community affairs show that airs at 5:30 on the Sunday mornings.

Whatever it is, the Manolo recommends that her daughter wear the sensible but attractive shoes, because undoubtedly it will be the wild time. Here is the Cole Haan Air Lainey Chain Wedge in nougat-colored suede and patentleather. Perfect for the sudden celebrity.

Manolo answers, it is the Andre 3000!

Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, the Cassie, who was the first to correctly identify this week’s always dapper celebrity of note.

Manolo says, if you are like the Manolo, undoubtedly you will need to be cheered up on the day after the tax day. And so, what does the Manolo do when he is in the feeling not so special mood? He looks at the shoes!

Here is the wacky, expensive, colorful pair of the platform shoes from the DSqaured2, which will help you forget your recent encounter with the long, pocket-picking arm of the federal government.