Manolo says, the Manolo has been feeling the little bit under the weather, down with the small, niggling lung infection that has sapped his strength and made him wheezy.
Of the course, the best cure for such illness (aside from antibiotics) is shoes on the sale, such as these marvelous Jimmy Choo green patent sandals.
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,
I’m about to become another victim of the bad economy. After six years with the same company, I’ve just been told that I am being laid off next week. I’ve got some money in the bank, and my expenses are not too high, so I’m okay for a little while. However, before I have to go out there and start looking for work again, I’d like to buy a new pair of business pumps. I’ve budgeted $200 for this, please help.
Mariana
Manolo says, ayyyyyy! You have the Manolo’s sympathy. Such terrible news!
Or, is it?
This last week, the article appeared in the Los Angeles Times describing the handful of youthful ex-workers who have found that being out of work was the bestest thing ever, for at last they could engage in those life-enriching hobbies with which traditional gainful employment had interfered, such as surfing and mountain biking. This trend was not unemployment, said the The Los Angeles Times, rather it was “funemployment”.
Funemployment! What could be more American than this? To make barely palatable lemonade from the most shriveled and bitterest of lemons!
Of the course, for most of us, funemployment means that we will finally have the time to spend rooting around in the dumpster behind the Whole Foods looking for organic carrots that are not yet brown. Such fun!
Here is the Olivia from Prari, the handsome, Italian-made black pump with exactly the correct amount of tasteful detail to set it apart. And, look! They are on sale, nearly 50% off of the regular price.
Manolo says, the Manolo reminds you that he is twittering now. You may sign up to follow him at http://twitter.com/shoeblogger and see how he is struggling to compresses his rather verbose style into tiny 140-character missives.
Manolo says, the Manolo has been predicting the end of the ultra-extreme towering heels for many months now, and at last it has come to pass, as announced by Leon Andre Talley himself.
Designers with an obsession for towering torture chambers, often poorly designed for the well-being of the foot, must get a reality check. I, for one, am over the mania for the high, high heel. Too many career women look like a herd of fashion beasts, aping one another in impractical shoes . . . Can’t anyone take a cue from First Lady Michelle Obama, in the elegant low-heeled shoes she always wears? A flat would be nice.
Of the course, the reason that the First Lady wears the flats has less to do with the comfort and more to do with her amazonian stature.
Be that as it may, the Manolo agrees that the heels had gone beyond what was both advisable and attractive. It was time for the predictable reaction, the return to more practical shoes.
Thus, the old hotness.
Ridiculous shoes in which you cannot walk.
Versus, the new hotness.
The Low Heels of High Spark Girls.
Manolo says, the Manolo’s internet friend, Jenifer has written the review (with many pictures) of the 1920 Gloria Swanson movie, Why Change Your Wife?
Here’s how it goes. Man marries woman who promptly becomes “decent” and “modest” (though it does not show what she was before the marriage). He tries to liven things up by buying her a negligee from a fancy store, but who should be the model but a girl who had a crush on him in childhood. This movie frequently focuses on the shoes as a symbol of sex and feminine power. (In other words, shoes have been such for a very long time). These are her shoes.
And now you must go read the whole thing, as there are many more photos of super fantastic shoes from the Roaring Twenties.
Manolo says, it is Monday and you are back at your desk, working like the dog, with all of the other ladies who do not lunch; with all of the ladies who do not have the luxury of sitting around on their heinies with their kaftans and turbans and fancy cigarette holders and their Japanese houseboys who bring them mid-morning high-balls while they talk on their princess telephones. No, no, you are with the ladies who are the productive members of society, who go off to their places of employment where their formerly delicate spirits are daily crushed beneath the boot-heel of the Man, impassive and odious in his disdain.
In short, you must work while others lounge upon their piles of unearned money!!!
And now, look at you, you are sitting at your desk, silently ranting like the street corner communist denouncing the Dictatorship of Capital!
Of the course, the real problem is not the ladies who lunch (whom you well know have not worn the turbans and kaftans since Auntie Mame was shouting “Life is the Feast, Suckas!”), but rather, the problem is that outside it is the most beauteous of late spring days; warm and fragrant with the scent of flowers and green leaves, betokening the simple joys of summer: languid strolls in the country, lemonade on the porch, and long evenings watching the fireflies flicker.
In short, the weather is nice and you are stuck in the office, yet again!!!
Oh, well, things could be much worse. You could be “funemployed“.
What you need now is to look at pictures of beauteous and impractical shoes; shoes that cannot be worn at the office, shoes that can only be enjoyed in the full light of the early summer’s day. Shoes like these flowery thong sandals, the Freda from Kate Spade.
They smell like begonias!
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,I am a girl bogged down by stress! This weekend I will take my veterinary specialty boards- a task enough to drive the best of us to drink. Shortly after that I’m moving to fabulous San Francisco to start my new job.
I need a pair of shoes to celebrate. Something funky and fabulous, that fits my new bohemian city, but comfy enough for a twelve hour day on the clinic floor. Sadly, I am cursed with wide feet and calves- which can make my love affair with shoes a tortured one. Can you help me?
Carrie
Manolo says, Ayyyy! Congratulations to the Manolo’s friend Carrie who has achieved the first part of every 10-year-old girl’s dream life, (the second part of which may best be described as “Professional Equestrian and Prima Ballerina Married to Zach Efron”).
Naturally, anyone who has achieved such success after one of the most grueling and intense courses of study deserves the reward, and nothing says “I honor my own accomplishments” quite like the fabulous and vaguely bohemian-ish pair of comfort shoes.
Look, here are the suede mary-janes from Kumfs, the semi-funky brand of wide-width shoes from New Zealand, which is near Australia, so you know they must be good!
Manolo asked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the lovely Amy Adams!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend Bernie who was the first and only person to correctly identify this week’s celebrity feets.
Manolo says, the giant shoe from the Philippines?
You may be certain that at this very moment the Chinese are working on their response.
