It’s beauties like these that cause me to weep a little at the fact that I don’t have a Marry Poppin’s magically endless bag of cash. Robert Clergerie proves again just how elegant and sassy French designers can be in his Spring shoe collection for Opening Ceremony. My favorite style of the collection is the Saxo Leather Bootie. This sleek shoe with its elegant wooden heel, corset lacing and leather body is the stuff dreams are made of (at least mine, anyway). If only I could slip my brittle ankles into these striking booties and prance around the city, running up and down subway platforms while legions of shoe fans alike drool over my killer set of kicks…

Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she? Somebody snag these and make me jealous.

You can check out the rest of the collection at Opening Ceremony.

N.B. The Manolo has asked his friend Trisha Marie to help him from time to time.


Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s internet friends has asked the Manolo the question.

Dear Manolo,

I work in Los Angeles in the part of TV no one sees, post-production. It’s where editing, sound, captions and graphics are put together to make the actual programs on the magic box. To say it’s a VERY casual environment would be an understatement. Jeans and sneakers are the order of the day and one can even see flip-flops at the office. I have recently fallen deeply in love with Dansko closed-back clogs and they are now the only shoe I want to wear ever. I am of a petite stature and they add a little height while still being easy to run around in and come in many cool patterns.

I am a woman of a certain age (54, if you must know) and am afraid that this cloginization means I am becoming frumpy, but I do have to say that I get LOTS of compliments on my shoes. Such as these: Dansko Professional Tooled Clogs which I am wearing with dark jeans and a white tuxedo shirt today. Am I fooling myself?

Your blog is brilliant, witty and charming, by the way, and I say this not to try to get you to answer, but to thank you for all the reading pleasure you give.

Robin

Ayyyy! Perhaps the effusive praise is befogging the Manolo’s powers of judgment, but these Dansko clogs are not entirely repulsive, although the pattern is not exactly to the Manolo’s taste.

On the one of the hands, the clog has the long and honorable tradition of service as the durable European peasant feetwear.

On the other of the hands, the clog is the peasant shoe for the peasants who work in the muck and the mud of the rural barnyard, where the ability to scrape the noxious effluvia from the shoes is of the highest priority…. Which, now that the Manolo considers it, may perhaps make it the perfect shoe for those who work in Hollywood.

On the third of the hands, for the briefest of moments, late last year, the clogs were considered especially stylish.

On the fourth of the hands, unless you are the 15-year-old Belorussian super model, you will not look stylish in the clogs, no matter what your slovenly co-workers and the Teen Vogue are saying.

On the fifth of the hands, “Rock on, Comfort Shoe Lady”.

On the sixth of the hands, “What do you mean, ‘Comfort Shoe Lady?”

On the seventh of the hands, “Nothing, nothing, just that you look so comfortable.”

On the eighth of the hands, “Is there something wrong with that?”

On the ninth of the hands, “No, no. Nothing wrong, nothing at all, Comfort Shoe Lady.” *snicker*

On the tenth of the hands, “I don’t care what you think. They make my feet feel good.”

On the eleventh of the hands, “Rock on, Comfort Shoe Lady.”

On the twelfth of the hands, perhaps you may consider upgrading to the Clergerie clogs, because then, when you are called the Comfort Shoe Lady, you may reply, “But they’re French, from Paris!!!”

Manolo says, everyone is all hot under the collar for the clogs, which, when you think about it, is faintly ridiculous.

However, never let it be said that the Manolo does not respond to the latest fashion trends with useful advice, and so here are three pairs of French clogs from Robert Clergerie which are suitable for wearing out in public.

This is the Cuza from Robert Clergerie, the crisscross strapped open-toed clog that sacrifices nothing in terms of trend-gobbling hotness. Is it possible for the clog to be “hot”? If so, this is perhaps the closest you may come to such the state.

Here is the Pavane from Robert Clergerie another open-toed clog that is worth your time.

Finally, here is the Zhia from Robert Clergerie in the glossy plum color that makes wearing clogs almost bearable.

Manolo says, it is only Monday afternoon and, ayyyyy, already you have experienced the major wardrobe malfunction, one that occurred at the moment of maximum inconvenience: while you were presenting your latest expense projections to Mz. Gargglemole, Regional Overlord of Personnel Branding and Scarification, and her phalanx of toadies.

You had just bent over to adjust the Powerpoint projector (which was at that moment displaying your FY 2008-09 estimations for brazier, branding iron, and pincer repairs) when your Spanx unexpectedly, audibly, and explosively, decompressed.

*POP*

Like the cork out of the champagne bottle.

Your face turned red, your drawers sagged, your bulges bulged, and, worst of all, Trent Garfunkel, your hated office nemesis, snickered.

Lucky for you, Mz. Gargglemole, herself the woman of size, glared the pipsqueaky Trent into gnat-like insignificance, and announced the ten minute recess, which you spent in the washroom working feverishly with electricians tape and the Ace bandage.

The rest of your presentation went magnificently, and afterward, Ms. Gargglemole pulled you aside, complimented you on your composure, and recommended, “just between us big girls”, the boutique where one may purchase the brand of heavy-duty foundation garments manufactured in Soviet Russia.

So, it all worked out for the best in the end, even if you are still somewhat traumatized, and now you have retreated to your desk to look at the shoes so as to calm your jangly nerves.

Last week, the Manolo recommended the Clergerie shoes, and The Thoughtful Dresser blog is always speaking of them.

What this? Unusual and beautiful demi-wedge-heel ankle booties!

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

Dear Manolo,

I will be going to Paris in October for a beauty event, which is sure to be full of the amazing and stylish glamazons. I don’t want to look like an American tourist, so I am in need of black heels that are comfortable enough to walk around in all day, will work with both pants and skirts and finally are stylish enough to fit in with the fashionistas.

Christine

Manolo says, Ayyyy! Paris and glamazons in the fall! Such joy!

Of the course, the Manolo, being himself possessed of the less than elegant bodily shape, understands his friend’s natural anxiety about being around the beautiful peoples. To be the turkey in the room full of peacocks, this is not the situation which encourages the boundless self-esteem so prized by modern educators.

The usual advice given to reduce social unease is to imagine others in their underwear, but this does not work when the others in question are already the famous underwear models.

The only real solution to this discomfort is to recognize that you are unique and special, and that you can wear amazing shoes than will make others envy your good taste and style.

Shoes such as these marvelous and unusual split-wedge heel, patent leather pumps, the Tain from Robert Clergerie. They are comfortable, super stylish, and French!

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

Dear Manolo,

I am looking for a sleek black boot with a medium heel and round toe for everyday city winter wear, something that comes to the knee and looks very narrow in the calf

Mona

Manolo says, now that the summer is coming to its inevitable end (barring the early arrival of the global warming) it is time for every super fantastic girl to consider her personal boot situation.

And although everyone wishes to have the warm feets, no super fantastic girl wishes to appear to have the largish calves.

Yes, this desire to appear to be the willowy sylph-like creature of the small calves, who lives solely upon the moonbeams and Diet Fanta, it is the culturally determined and unattainable beauty standard set by the oppressive consumerist medias.

But still, who really wants to have the keg-like calves?

The Manolo knows that such shallowness is to be decried, and that the real beauty comes in the great and marvelous variety of shapes and sizes…but what can one do?

Fashion, it is the cruelest of mistresses.

Thus the Manolo would recommend to his friend this beautiful and somewhat costly boot, the Dostic from the Robert Clergerie.

Manolo says, the Manolo he has been looking at the boots, and this one from the Espace (which they are from the Robert Clergerie) it appeals to the Manolo with the unusual mary-janesque details and the rich handsome leather.

Manolo says, this beautiful simple velvet pump from the Robert Clergerie, available in the wine or the black, it is on the sale, reduced almost 65%, the savings over over $230 of the American dollars.

Manolo says, here is another round-toed velvet pump, this one from the Robert Clergerie. It, too, is 65% off of the regular price, a savings of over $230 of the American dollars.

Manolo says, two of Manolo’s many internet friends have sent the Manolo links to two very amusing shoe museums. You must look at them.

The Bata Shoe Museum This place, it is is in the Canada, and was mentioned in the most entertaining article about the caveman shoes in the recent New Yorker magazine.

This museum, it is in the France, in the town of Romans-sur-Isere, which as the Manolo can attest is one of the centers of the shoe manufacturing in the France. (The shoes of the Robert Clergerie they are made there.) This site, it is in the French, but this, it is no barrier to looking at the pictures.

P.S. Many thanks to the Manolo’s internet friends, the La BellaDonna and the Sandra.