Manolo says, here is something to brighten your day, the ridiculously colorful platform sandal from the Cesare Paciotti.

This is the sort of shoe that the Manolo sometimes thinks of as being the “Mediterranean Strutting Shoe”, by which he means that not only would you would have to have the darker, Mediterranean skin to carry them off, but you could also only manage them if you were prepared to walk as if you were strutting along the corniche, heading back to your private yacht.

But, what is the problem?

It is summer, are you not already tanning yourself to bronzed perfection? And, on the advice of the Manolo, should you not always strut your stuff?

N.B. Manolo says, the special guest poster today is John Travolta’s Hairpiece.

Forget about that gabagul kiss with Kelly last night at the Savages premiere and take a peep at me, the real star of the show…

Damn, I look good on that man’s head. Go-od. Luxurious, like a freaking sable pelt, know what I’m saying?

Course, I should look good. I ain’t some cheap rug, you know. It’s $8000 for a hair system like me, but Johnny, he spares no expense, goes first class all the way.

Yeah, okay, old Johnny’s having a bit of a rough spot now. I ain’t gonna go into it, being as me and Johnny, we go way back, but you know what I’m talking about.

But fuggedaboutit, Johnny’s a fighter, he’ll get through this, specially since I’m there with him.

What’s that you saying, Johnny don’t need me? He can do it on his own? .

Lemme tell you something. Lest you forget, I’m what made Johnny Travolta what he is…

Bada-Boom! Yeah, feel the love now, biotch. Vinny Barbarino, bald.

Imagine that chrome dome in some close-up clinch with Jessica Biel or Scarlet Johanssen.

Nah, it ain’t happening. Johnny needs me if he’s gonna remain a viable leading man.

Hey, it’s been fun. I gotta run now. I’m having lunch with Billy Bob’s hairpiece at the Grill in the Alley. Real hillbilly, but a standup guy, know what I mean? Makes me laugh.

Manolo says, here is the stunning, stiletto-heeled cage sandal, the Briller from Pour La Victoire, that would perfectly offset your little dress of blackness, for that fancy evening out on the town. Mira! It is deeply on the sale, 70% off of the regular price, selling for less than $50!

Manolo says, here are the few things which will delight and/or amuse…

He is fascinated and amazed by the fact that every human being, no matter how familiar, is ‘other’, a mystery that can never be completely unravelled.
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His collection of 72,000 perfectly preserved color autochromes documents a world on the verge of the modern era. Snippets of history we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in sepia tones are pictured in vivid color.
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The Golden Child

N.B. Psychologists have proven what we already know, shoe tell us much about the wearer…

The Phluff Daddy from O’Neill, $18.

Your name is Kenny. Not Kenneth, Kenny, and you own only four pairs of the long pants, two of them blue jeans.

Your best friend in the whole world is the chocolate lab named Bo, who wears the red bandanna around his neck, limps from the little bit of doggy arthritis, and is the sort of chick magnet (although he seems to mostly draw only single-mom divorcees who work in diners, and college girls studying recreation science).

You spend most of your time riding your mountain bike around town, reading undergraduate philosophy books, or hanging out at the indie coffee shop downtown, talking to college girls who are studying recreation science.

You’re 36-years-old and you’ve never left this town. Why should you? You were born here, went to school here, and graduated from college here (English, ’98). You even live in the tiny, two-bedroom house your grandmother left you up in the Avenues, stretching out that legacy into infinity (if you can keep your expenses down).

Some mornings, while you’re eating your bacon and eggs in the harvest-yellow kitchen with the avocado green stove, you look at the newspaper and think that maybe you should sell that house and get out of that town.

But then Bo hobbles in and puts his nose on your bare leg beneath your cargo shorts, and you think “Not yet, boy. Now while you’re still around.”

Manolo says, she was such the nice lady, the bit rough around the edges and liked to yell, yes, but fundamentally nice. And she could throw the softball! Ayyy! Like the cannon!

But then she got involved in the complicated relationship with this horrible overbearing person…

With the screaming, and the manipulating, and the awful horrible children from the previous relationship. And frankly, the Ms. Jenner, she was the simple lady who liked sports, k.d. lang, and the occasional beer. She does not need all this drama queen nonsense.

Now, whenever you see her at your daughter’s school, she looks like she’s ready to break out in tears…

And you just want to give her the hug, and tell her ditch that manipulative woman. But you cannot, because it is none of your business. So you keep your mouth shut and hope for the best.

P.S. For reference purposes..

Continue Reading…

Manolo says, it is Monday, and you are back at your desk, and frankly, “discontent” does not even begin to describe it.

You had such the nice weekend. The neighbors at the end of the bloc, Bob and Karen, came over for the cookout on Saturday evening. They are so nice, and the weather was perfect. You had some little canapé things from Trader Joe’s, gin and tonics, potato salad, and Gary made the best St. Louis style ribs on the grill. Best of all, for whatever reason, the normally ravenous mosquitoes of late June, which usually come down like the wolves upon the fold, largely left you alone.

And the whole time, you thought to yourself: this is what life is really about, warm weather, convivial conversation, good food, fine drinks, and few invasive pests. What more do we really need?

And now, today, you had to go back to the corporate salt mine; loading your 16 tons of data into the computer on your desk, and what do you get?

Sigh.

Look! Shoes!

If the dramatic Callie T-Strap Sandal from the Jimmy Choo cannot take your mind off of your first-world problems, nothing can.

Manolo says, the Manolo has often recommended the Bernardo sandals, for the reason that they are simple, elegant, high quality summer sandals, that convey delightfully Mediterranean insouciance.

So, imagine the Manolo’s joy when he learned that the Matrix from Bernardo was selling at more the 50% off of the regular price!

Manolo says, now that the Manolo has revived his formerly semi-moribund shoe blog, he would like to invite his internet friends to consider contributing the guest post or two.

It does not matter if you are the fashion blogger, or the non-blogger, the Manolo would love to see what his internet friends have to say about such topics as shoes, runway trends, shoes, fashion history, shoes, celebrity misadventure, shoes, indeed almost any topic that is not overtly political, or overly controversial. All the Manolo asks is that the contribution be thoughtful and moderately entertaining to his readers.

If you would be interested in doing this please to send the Manolo the email telling him what you would like to blog about.

Manolo says, this…

The reason the kilt was invented

Does not equal, this…

The LPGA…in Hell

Yes, yes, the Manolo gets the idea. You are the unconventional, free-spirited, manly-dude, who wishes to show the world that you march to the beat of your own Iron John drum circle, even as you not-so-surreptitiously air your junk out in public.

However, the Manolo would like to point out that your self-conception is dramatically at odds with how the rest of the world sees you. As the Manolo’s internet friend, the Lori, put it, “What is it about utilikits that take all of the sexiness, majesty, and coolness out of the regular kilt?”

Exactly. In the other words…

Real Scottish kilt, worn properly = The Sexy.
Utilikilt, worn by you = The Dorky.

The Manolo does not care how handsome you are, trust the Manolo, you look like the dork in the utilikilt.

Even Fabio, who looks good in the loincloth, would look like the dork in the utilitikilt.

Please, sir, put your pants back on.

So, for the sake of the rest of us, confine your unconventionality to strangely shaped mustachios, carefully sculpted beards, thinning ponytails, and bowler hats with steampunk goggles on the brim. Do not show us your bony knees, and do not potentially expose us, should you slip and fall, to the sight of your hairy bottom.

For the rest of us, please, do not wear the utilitikilt.

Manolo says, the only problem with this video is that it is far too short to be fully satisfying.

The Frye Harness boot, like the Levis, the motorcycle jacket, and the white crew neck t-shrt, is still one of the great American classics.

Manolo asks, would you wear it?