Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s internet friends has forwarded the Manolo this
piece of wisdom from the Cary Grant.

I’m reminded of a piece of advice my father gave me regarding shoes: it has stood me in good stead whenever my own finances were low. He said, it’s better to buy one good pair of shoes than four cheap ones. One pair made of fine leather could outlast four inferior pairs and, if well cared for, would continue to proclaim your good judgement and taste no matter how old they become. It is rather like the stock market. It makes more sense to buy just one share of blue chip than 150 shares of a one-dollar stock.

It is so very true, no?

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

Dear Manolo,

Could you suggest a nice pair of tall leather boots for winter wear?

Eric

Manolo says, the Manolo has the single commandment about the boots and the shoes for the men: you cannot wear the shoes that would potentially appear in the closet of the Argentine tango pimp.

You know the sort of the shoes the Manolo is talking about, with the overly pointy toes, and the bizarre details like the maltese cross cutouts, shoes which have weird colors and are made from the exotic leathers like the wildebeest and the pit viper and the Vietnamese pot bellied pig.

Men’s shoes must be of the traditional cut, color and materials. It is the quality of the workmanship and the fineness of the details which should distinguish the men’s shoe.

Of the course, the exception to the rule is the choice of sneaker, where the man may go as wild as his infantile heart desires. Do you wish new sneakers with the hydraulic springs in the heels and USB port in the toe? Do they come in lime green with the purple laces and the Linux operating system? The Manolo says, go for it.

As for the boots for winter, the Manolo recommends the
Brando Engineer boot from Frye, for its classic styling and durable nature.

Manolo says, all of the recent talk of the stylish weatherproof boots reminds the Manolo that this year the Santy Claus brought the Manolo the brand new pair of the Blundstones, the Blunnies, the most famous Australian shoes you have never heard of. (Forget about the loathsome Uggs, these they are the real feetwear of the Antipodes!)

The Manolo, as you would imagine, receives many, many shoes as the gifts from the manufacturers, most of which, because he is particular about his feetwear, he tosses into the big box destined for the charity, to provide the shoes for the homeless street urchins and the out-of-work celebrity former hotties.

Occasionally, however, something will demand to be worn, and such was the case with the pair of the classic Blunnies, which the Manolo thinks handsome in the ruggedly traditional way.

Unfortunately, it is the same old problem for the Manolo, who suffers from having the excessively elegant feets, with the unusually high and graceful arches, so that even though the Blunnies they fit perfectly in the length and the width, they are painfully tight across the top of the Manolo’s foot. And so, even though they are something the Manolo would very much like to wear, it is into the box they must go.

Such are the trials of the Manolo.

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

Dear Manolo,

My son, who recently graduated from law school and found a job at a good firm, knows about having high quality dress shoes for the office, but he doesn’t know what sort of shoes would be appropriate for the many casual social events that his new job requires.

Martha

Manolo says, look it is the adorable new lawyer leaving the nest! See how he struggles to spread his wings!

Once, so recently, your tattered and smelly Classic Vans skaters were all the shoe you required for the socializing, mostly because you only went to the functions at which your talent for the one-handed keg-stands could be properly appreciated.

But now you are grown up, and you are being invited to the adult parties where the fancy martinis and the scotch on the rocks are being served by the stern senior partners with their steely grey hair and their sinewy second wives.

Ayyyy! You are out of your league, boy! And those Vans, they do not belong here, you are not working for the office of the publics defender!

Thus the Manolo would suggest the traditional tassel loafer from the British mod icon, Ben Sherman.

Yes, they are not the most exciting shoes, and they cannot fully express the joy you feel at being alive. But do not worry, six months of the lawyering will cure you of that.

Manolo says, the latest column of the Manolo it is now available at the website of the Express of the Washington Post.

Today’s topic it is the men with the big feets.

Dear Manolo,

My stepfather is despairing because of his big feet. He says he loves shoes, but he cannot find stylish, comfortable shoes that are size 14 and “medium wide.” Please help!

Tracie

Manolo says, the Manolo he receives each month many dozens of the emails from the desperate womens who have giant feets. However, this it is the first time the Manolo can recall the letter asking the Manolo to help the man with the large feets.

It is the nearly universal truism that the mens take great pride in the size of the feets, as with other body parts that shall remain unnamed, the bigger the better, and indeed the Manolo himself, he has always been happy to say that he wears the manly size eleven.

The correct solution to any problem with the foot size it is the save the moneys and have the shoes custom made, however, this it is not always possible. Thus the Manolo would tell the step-father of the Tracie to do what the professional athletes do and consider the Bruno Magli. There was the reason why the O.J. Simpson shod his own size twelve feets with the shoes of the Bruno Magli.

Here is the Magonza from the Bruno Magli, the classic and handsome moccasin toe loafer, available up to the size 15 in the EEE widths.

Manolo says, now available for the downloading at the website of the Express of the Washington Post is the latest column of the Manolo.

Today, the Manolo discusses footwears for the professor who would be stylish.

Dear Manolo,

My husband is an literature professor at a small liberal arts college who insists on wearing the typical professorial uniform, you know, the tweed jacket, the oxford shirt, the khakis, and the dullest brown rubber-soled shoes known to man. What would you suggest?

Lynn

Manolo says, to the Lynn, please whatever happens, do not allow your husband professor to become the scrawny, old-before-his-time elderly man with the faded elbow patches and the grey beard, given to the dour ruminations and and the excessive chin strokings.

The Manolo asks, ubi sunt?

Where are the dapper professors of our youth?

What has happened to those engaging teachers in their elegant clothes and handsome shoes, who could inspire our provincial young peoples with their joyful and obvious conniseurship, their joie de vivre?

If the Manolo were the professor– Professor of the Super Fantastic!—he would perhaps choose as his model of style the architects, who dress in the manner that expresses the creativity and yet remains professional, so as to not frighten the natives in the building and business trades.

This style it is elegant and streamlined, however it allows for the knit ties and the unusual eye-wear, and of the course, the attractive leather shoes.

And so the Manolo he would recommend the Fairfax by the Allen-Edmonds as being the stylish shoe suitable for the professor who would be the envy of the faculty senate.

Manolo says, the next Carnivale of the Couture it will be about at the About Shoes, and the title, it is near and dear to the heart of the Manolo.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the latest trends and the newest offerings from the hottest designers, there are times when even the most devout fashionista will opt for function over fashion.

So … it’s not a big night out, there’s nary a potential partner in sight, and there is no office dress code. Which shoes do you reach for when you’re only dressing to impress yourself?

For the Manolo of the informal lounging there is no comparison to the original Rod Lavers from the Adidas, but they must be in the leather and not the nylon mesh.

As for the jaunty man about the town shoes, the Manolo has recently purchased these pair of the Ballys, which he has been wearing frequently.

Simple, handsome, relaxed, they fit the criteria of what the Manolo considers shoes worthy of the wearing, even when no one is around.

Manolo says, these they may perhaps be appropriate if you were to be cast as the “2nd Travelling Salesman” in the community theatre version of The Music Man

Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has forwarded to the Manolo the article from the Times of the London about the Berluti, the swank English bootery.

Olga Berluti makes the most beautiful men’s shoes in the world — and if you don’t believe me, take a peek in one of Berluti’s London branches. You’ll gaze in awe at the elegant lines and the burnished deep, layered finish and go: “Wow! When I’m rich that’s what I’ll wear all the time.” Then you’ll walk away sadly because you’ll know it’s never going to happen. Not when a basic pair of ready-to-wear shoes costs a minimum of £470 and a pair of bespoke ones upwards of £2,200.

According to Berluti, though, when we meet in her Paris atelier, there are quite a few non-rich people out there who buy her shoes. “Today young people with no money save and save till they can afford them,” she says.

It’s Berluti’s view that a shoe isn’t a proper shoe until it has been worn for at least 20 years — the point when it takes on its owner’s personality. So even for your bespokes, you’re paying only £110 a year.You’d agree it’s worth it if you tried on a pair – as I did in Berluti’s atelier. To wear they’re like ballet pumps. The fine calf leather has been tanned to such feathery lightness you could almost be barefoot — and the fit is perfect.

[…]

In the early days, when the company’s clientele included everyone from Toulouse-Lautrec to the Duke of Windsor, 80 per cent of its shoes were black and the rest chestnut brown. It was Berluti who introduced the more experimental finishes — smoked blacks, blue greys, yellow-browns, and grey-greens — and styles (tattooed with calligraphy; scarred like African tribesmen, etc) for which the shoemaker is renowned today.

The polishing techniques she invented herself and they are a closely-guarded secret. She keeps all her magic ingredients in old Guerlain perfume bottles in her atelier, watched over by a dummy dressed as a samurai, and her personally decorated wooden lasts (ie, the blocks from which bespoke shoes are made) of famous old customers.

They include Richard Burton, Mr Royce (of Rolls-Royce) and Toulouse-Lautrec; Warhol is the only customer with five lasts because he kept changing his mind.

The shoes of the Berluti are indeed truly marvelous, and in the fact, many of them are among the most beautiful shoes for the mens the Manolo has ever seen; absolutely gorgeous shoes.

Sometimes, however, the Olga Berluti she takes the quest for beauty and novelty too far, such as with the collection she has named Rapiécés-Reprisés.

These shoes they have, according to the Berluti website, the distinguished artistic pedigree.

One day, Andy Warhol asked Olga Berluti: “I would like my right loafer to be patched. And it needs to be visible! It needs to be very Andy Warhol!’. 40 years later, Olga Berluti applies to Ready-To-Wear models the techniques of patching and darning traditionally reserved for clothes.

Yes, it is possible to admire such shoes for the superb quality of their workmanship, and for their cultural value, but they are to the mind of the Manolo almost unwearable, especially by those wish to be taken seriously. If you are the dandy, or the rich artist, then perhaps yes, but otherwise, almost certainly no.

Still, what is there not to love about the company that adores the shoes and the art of the shoes so completely?