'Put not off your Cloths in the presence of Others, nor go out your Chamber half Dressed.' ~ George Washington

Manolo says, ayyyy! The President Dude is showing us his toes!

Historians agreed it was the first time they could remember seeing the leader of the free world snapped in a public setting, wearing nothing more than a flimsy strip of rubber on his feet.

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Capping off his Hawaiian vacation, President Obama earlier this week sports an uber-casual look finished with a pair of flipflops, favored by his core demographic: college kids.

“I can’t say I’ve seen a president’s toes before. This could be a very usual thing,” said presidential historian Jane Hampton Cook, author of an upcoming children’s book “What Does the President Look Like?”

“But I don’t think this is a big deal. Your footwear belongs to the occasion. If you’re on the beach buying your daughter snow cones, I don’t think you can beat him up for this. Now if he’s wearing flip-flops to the State of the Union, that’d be different.”

Presidential historian Doug Wead concurred.

“In public, no. I haven’t seen the president’s toes,” he deadpanned.

And while most historians couldn’t think of an example of presidential appendages being on such display, most agreed it wasn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world.

Unless you one of those old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy persons who seeks to uphold the standards of dress and decorum.

P.S. If you are the new visitor to the humble blog of the Manolo, please consider following the Manolo on the Twitter, or befriending him on the Facebook.

Manolo says, the Eve of the New Year’s, it approaches! And you will undoubtedly need the beautiful shoes in which to trip the fantastic light, shoes that are sparkly and festive, such as the Tryst from Stuart Weitzman.

Manolo says, here are the gorgeous Giuseppe Zanotti flat sandals embellished with the crystal bows that will transforms your feets into the delicate present of great price, they will be as dainty box filled with expensive jewels, dangling from the highest branch of the tree.

Manolo says, of the course, you will need kicky flat sandals to wear on your holiday trip to someplace warmer and less snowy, sandals such as these, the Sacagawea from the Brazilian/Miami designer Vanessa Avellar.

Manolo says, it is Monday and you are furiously attempting to find suitable gifts for the most difficult person on your list, your mother.

What does one get for the woman whose chief entertainments seem to be working at the soup kitchen and attempting to run down pedestrians in crosswalks?

“That is a woman in a hurry,” says your husband Gary, half-admiringly, as your mother squeals tires away from your home on Saturday, “and she’s probably going to kill someone.”

But, you were not paying attention. Your mind had already begun to wrestle with the eternal problem, what to get someone who has everything, wants nothing, and is crazy.

Buying the gift for your mother-in-law, Blanche of the Biker Gang, was easy. You bought her the new e-book gadget thing and loaded it up with the collected works of Zane Grey.

“The perfect gift,” said Gary, “she can keep it in the saddle bags on her bike.”

But for your mother, the dangerous woman of seventy-something, such things would probably not be suitable. She has never been the great reader, picking up mystery novels, and then putting them down before the ending, often with the announcement that “I figured out who did it. No reason to finish.”

She is not possessed of great vanity or girlish charm, which would enable you to give her the perfume or the Hermés accessories. Indeed, for the past fifteen years the ladies at the Villa Charisma Hair Salon have been perming your mother’s hair into the short ‘do most favored by progressive nuns and prison matrons.

Nor is she especially sentimental. Yes, there are the obligatory photos of you and your siblings, and the various grandchildren on the walls of her home, but nothing like the shrines to family you have seen in the homes of many persons of your acquaintance.

It has always been easy to shop for your father, as he has the panoply of esoteric hobbies, such as marquetry, model railroadry, and antique car restorationry, which keep him out in his workshop and away from your mother for much of each day, and which have the bewildering number of accessories and publications suitable for giving as the gifts.

The problem is that the main occupations of your mother are charitable and religious.

She plays the organ at the church on Sundays, (famously adding modern flourishes to traditional hymns, such as the time she slipped the bar of Hoagy Carmichael into “The Old Rugged Cross”). Then she works at the Humane Society on Mondays, the local soup kitchen on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and with foster children who have aged out of the system on Fridays. She sends checks to anti-malaria organizations in Africa, prepares Christmas gift boxes for orphans in Honduras, and has been known to bring random crusty punks home for sauerkraut and kielbasa supper.

She drives like the maniac because she feels that time to do good is limited.

“You know what she’d like best,” says Gary, as you walk up the driveway together, “that we go down and help her serve Christmas dinner at that soup kitchen.”

He’s right, of course…

Look! Shoes!

Here is the Allaire strappy sandal from the hot young designer Liam Fahy; the perfect momentary diversion, before you concentrate on the things that matter most.

Manolo says, with these Giuesppe Zanotti stiletto sandals your feet would be like the most elegant gifts ever given!

Manolo says, The Teva-letto, it lives!

Here is the description from the people who have unleashed this monstrosity…

Teva, leader in the sport sandal industry is known for their innovation of performance products and advanced technologies in the footwear industry teamed up with Grey Ant, the two collide to bring you the best of both worlds.

If the Manolo might paraphrase: “Hey! You got peanut butter in my chocolate-covered-lutefisk!”

“But, Manolo, these sandals, they are so comfortable, I hardly notice that the demons that lives in the heels have compelled me to murder my family and bury their corpses in the azalea bushes along the fence.”

Less monstrous than the Stella McCartney Birkenstiletto, yes or no?

Manolo says, it is Monday and you are frankly stressing out over the impending Thanksgiving-o-pocalypse which is now barreling toward you like the runaway trainload of the free-range heirloom turkeys.

Normally, Thanksgiving does not cause such excessive stress, but then, normally, you do the Thanksgiving at your home. Normally, you do not agree to get on the plane and travel to your in-laws on the other side of the country for the long weekend of family togetherness.

Of the course, you are not worried about the weekend, as it will undoubtedly be pleasant enough, filled with turkey, football, and the ordinary frictions of family visits.

No, what is worrying you is the strong potential for disaster as you pass through the security checkpoint at the airport, because your husband Gary, the normally level-headed person, has vowed that his junk shall go untouched.

“You’ve been listening to talk radio again, haven’t you?”

“Only Michael Savage,” he answers, the strange glint in his eye, “but I heard Amy Goodman say the same things this morning on Pacifica Radio.”

“You were listening to Pacifica Radio?”

“Fight the power, honey,” he says, as he gives you the clenched fist salute, whether ironically or not, you cannot tell.

And so now you are worried that your man will do something stupid at the TSA checkpoint, like making the offensive wisecracking about amateur proctology or not getting the romantic dinner before going to third base with the screener.

Worse, last night you woke up in the sweat picturing the airport crowds cheering as your husband is led away in handcuffs, wearing nothing but his underclothing, shouting loudly about the “intrusive fingers of the federal government”.

So this morning at breakfast, you confronted him over the cornflakes.

“Gary, promise me you won’t act up at the airport on Wednesday.”

“What do you mean by ‘act-up’?”

This evasiveness is not the good sign. What you need now are shoes…

Look! Elegant suede platform sandals from Prada!

Not even the knowledge that your husband might be intent on becoming the folk hero of resistance can reduce the sublime beauty of such shoes.

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

Dear Manolo,

My question is Washington related: have you heard of the Miss Sinergy pageant? It’s a beauty pageant that raises money for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. (They asked me to host the event, so I’m coming up this weekend.) Have you ever written about what shoes to wear in a beauty pageant? Flashy, but sensible so there’s no tripping on stage; alluring, but not overtly sexy.

Dan Renzi

Manolo says, ayyyyy! It is the letter from the reality-television-star-turned-writer Dan Renzi, of the Real World Miami and other such amusing bits of MTV generated content, and he is asking the Manolo the question about the beauty pagent!

Reality television, beauty pageants, and shoes! If this is not the ultimate confluence of everything fabulous, then the Manolo does not know what is.

Of the course, the Manolo could write the whole book about what sort of shoes should be worn by the would-be beauty queens. Not only must the shoes embody the ultimate in super fantasticness, but they should also allow the well-trained contestant to glide gracefully across the stage without the danger of toppling over onto her sash.

in this hypothetical book about the shoes for the beauty pageants, there were be many chapters devoted to properly matching the shoe to the event. For the example, the shoes for the Ms. Oily Butter Coconut Sun Bikini Tart would be very different from those for the future Miss Sinergy, who will be crowned in the enjoyably decorous event held at the Swedish Embassy’s House of Sweden in Georgetown, tomorrow night, October 16th, 2010. (But, please go to http://misssinergy.com for the more information.)

Look! Here is the Whirl from the Stuart Weitzman, perfect for striding to pageant glory.

Manolo says, here is the platform sandal from the Jordanian designer Aennis Eunis that is part of what Eunis is calling his Arabesque collection. It, like his Calligraphy shoes, are the tribute to his Arab heritage and to the decorative motifs of the Middle East.

Here is the second example from this collection, the ankle-cuff platform sandal…

Super Fantastic Arabesque!

But, you must now go to the Aennis Eunis website and see the whole collection.

Manolo says, it is Tuesday and you are back at your desk after what was either the three-day celebration of Cristobal Colon, or not, as the case may be.

Of the course, like many times you have returned to work after the short break, you have had the difficult time getting back into the processes of employment. Worse, recently, you have been especially distracted.

Thanks to the internet, that insidious purveyor of free pr0n, cross-eyed dreams and LOLcats, you have been thinking of the career change.

Well, perhaps not the career change, so much as the work at home business, one that will relieve you of the necessity of having to leave your house for the office each morning (to say nothing of the necessity of having to comb your hair, put on makeup, or wear pants).

Your brilliant business idea is the consequence of spending too much of the time browsing the wonders of Etsy, where you see that many other peoples are able to sell their handmade items of dubious worth.

However it is this item, the Miller Lite Crocheted Cap, that has occasioned your brainstorm. The very second you saw it, you realized that, finally, here was the opportunity for financial freedom!

Have you not inherited from your mother (who was famous for her craftiness) the most successful crocheted beer can cap pattern in the whole three county area? And does your husband not produce at least two cases of empty Budweiser cans each month (four during the football season)?

Shazam!

And now all you can think about is how you will leverage these assets to build the empire of crocheted novelty hats, which thanks to the empowering nature of the interwebs, you will sell on the line! And soon Aaron Sorkin will be making the movie about how, through ruthless crocheting, you cornered the beercan hat market!

But then your husband calls to remind you it is his mother’s birthday, and, as the call ends he drops the bomb on your dreams.

“Honey, can you pick up a six pack of Sierra Nevada on your way home.”

Oh noes! Your man has discovered craft beer, available only in bottles!

Sigh,

Well, at least the Manolo can still show you pictures of beautiful shoes while you work out your next escape plan.

Look! Here is the Luna from Elizabeth and James, the beautiful, shiny sandal.

P.S. Many thanks to the Manolo’s internet friend Janie who suggested the topic.

Manolo says, these Reed Krakoff shearling sandals are simply stunning in this dove-gray-on-gray combination (indeed, they make the entire outfit for Our Miss Amanda Brooks over at the website of the marvelous Garance Doré’s).

What the Manolo loves most about this shoe is that it is at once restrained and sensual; the perfect combination of the Apollonian and the Dionysian. It has the clean, intellectual lines, and yet one can feel the pleasure-giving softness of the shearling.

If, you are looking for super fantastic shoes you could not do better than the latest collection from the Reed Krakoff, the name you will be hearing more of in the immediate future.