Manolo asks, whose shoes?

Manolo says, today is the fith day of March? Why it is the Doc Marten Day! The holiday the Manolo has just invented to celebrate the iconic British waffle-stomper.

Time to put away your furry Ugg boots, and your refined Hunter wellies and pick up your Dr. Martens.

Choose one, please, from the Column A.

Iconic!

Doc Martens 8418 Union Jack Boot

Vintage!

Doc Martens Triumph Shearling Boot

Doc Martens Triumph Shearling Boot

Sophisticated!

Dr Martens Original Chelsea Boot.

If the Dr Martens are cool enough for the Clash, they are certainly cool enough for you, home girl.

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

Dear Manolo,

I am going on a romantic vacation to Venice this spring. I’d like a pair of shoes both comfortable enough for walking all those canal sidewalks and glamorous enough to impress my sweetie. Oh, and I’m not taking a very big suitcase, so it would be helpful if they were versatile, too. And maybe grippy rubber soles? I’m asking for too much in one item of the feetwear?

Nell

Manolo says, perhaps the long recession is finally over, for just this past week the Manolo has received nearly the dozen letters from peoples who are travelling soon to Europe. England, France, and Austria are all mentioned in these happy missives as intended destinations, but it is Italy, Bella Italia, that is by far the preferred spot for the post-recessionary vacationers. Why should it not be thus? Italy is beautiful, and romantic, and historic, and the thus the perfect place to enjoy what may, or may not, be the return of prosperity.

And what about the Venice? How can one not love this amazing city in the springtime, when the weather is pleasant, the flowers are blooming, and the famous odors of Venice — fetid canal water, dead fish, and unwashed boatmen — have not yet reached their full summertime fluorescence. So romantic!

What is needed here, are the jaunty Italian-style driving moccasins, such as the Millie from the Patricia Green. Available in six handsome colors, the Manolo’s two favorites are the camel and the red.

Manolo asked, whose shoes?

Manolo answers, it is the Lauren Hutton!

Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, the Rondi, who was the first to correctly identify this famously gapped-toothed personage of note.

Manolo asks, whose shoes?

Manolo says, it is Tuesday and you are back at your desk contemplating the topic of human folly, to be more specific the folly inherent in the do-it-yourself improvement of the home project.

Back in the January, the repainting of your kitchen seemed like such the good idea, the project of the single weekend: strip the old wallpaper from the walls, paint everything in the moderately neutral color, and be done with it.

Ah, such innocence. Such blissful, happy, youthful innocence.

Now, here it is, nearly March, and the project is still not done. The walls are painted, but the doors of the cabinets languish in the garage, their absence mocking you each morning as you enter the kitchen.

“What were you thinking,” they say, their tiny wooden voices whispering to you, “you’re a loser at home repairs! You can’t even unstop the toilet without soaking the floor.”

You try to ignore them, telling yourself that this weekend you will fix them, but good.

But it is too late, your morning coffee tastes bitter, and you feel the weight of failure heavy upon your soul. Your drive to the office has become the commute of shame and self-loathing, all because it took you three weeks to find exactly the right shade of off-white in glossy finish.

What is needed now are two things, the name of the good handyman, and the super fantastically, good-humored shoes from the interwebs!

Such as these fun new shoes from the Jean-Michel Cazabat, the Whitney Suede, Leather and Patent Leather Colorblock Sandals

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

Dear Manolo,

At the end of the month, I’m taking a series of exams, the final portion being an hour long oral defense of what I wrote in the written exam concerning marriage in Rome, Latin poetry, necromancy, magic and the Goddess Hecate; (in multiple essays, not just one). It’s very frightening, as I am just a shy and lowly undergraduate. I want to WOW my professors in the orals, but I need the confidence that can only be gotten from fabulous shoes (on a budget though, I am a college student). Do you have any suggestions?

Betsy

Manolo says, on the one of the hands, what else would one wear to take the exams about the world of Rome than the handsome pair of the gladiator sandals?

But, on the other of the hands, that would be too obvious, would it not?

And yet, on the third of the hands, the professors who are doing the examing are probably the Romanophiles, and so would certainly be amused by your choice of the feetwear.

Although, on the four of the hands, probably not.

Still, on the fifth of the hands, the sandals of the gladiator sandals are comfortable, yes?

Besides, on the sixth of the hands, it is February, and cold and wet, even in Rome itself.

Ultimately, on the seventh of the hands, you must project the aspect of confident seriousness, not frivolity, and so the Manolo recommends the Vivian from the Kors by Michael Kors, in the Taupe Kid Suede (also available in 11 other finishes.) Not exactly Roman, but when in Academia one must do as the Academians do.

Manolo asked, whose shoes?

Manolo answers, it is the Sylvester Stallone!

Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, the Victor, who was the first to correctly identify this week’s celebrity palooka of note.

And now, the Manolo takes this moment to remind you that 30 years ago, Sylvester Stallone was objectively beautiful.

Sylvester Stallone, Style Icon? Yes, it is true. He was!

It is strange, but the Manolo remembers the early 1980s as being the era of lamentable clothings, and yet, while watching again the 1981 Sylvester Stallone movie Nighthawks, with Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer, the Manolo was struck by just how attractive the costumes were.

Manolo asks, whose shoes?

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

Dear Manolo,

I will be attending the entire Wagner Ring Cycle in April at the Lincoln Center. Since we had to almost refinance our home in order to afford tickets that do not require high altitude acclimatization, I cannot afford new shoes for each performance. So I am looking for one pair of Wagner-worthy shoes. The other three pairs of shoes needed I will have to fashion from scraps of vintage breast-plates and horn.

Lenora

Manolo says, how to explain the Cycle of the Wagnerian Ring to the person who has never attended the entire thing in the single marathon week, except to note that it is at once horrifically enthralling and terribly corny.

How is it possible, the Manolo asks, that the Richard Wagner converted such ridiculous and bombastic source material – the Norse Gods are having the bad hair millennium – into the work of supreme affect?

It is the music! What else?

This music of Wagner, so stirring, so brilliant, so memorable, works the transformational magic on what is essentially the elevated flapdoodle, and thus the tangled soap opera story of the comic-book super hero is converted into the purest gold.

Plus, how can one resist the over-the-top spectacle of the handsome men being assailed by stout women in armor? It is like the candy; very chewy, very dense candy

Speaking of the candy, here is the Licorice Too from the Kate Spade, glittery perfection for the opera.

Manolo says, thanks to one of the Manolo’s internet friends, the Manolo has been this week contemplating the The Ring of the Nibelung.

Of the course, the Manolo being the frivolous person, can only think of frivolous things, which is why the Manolo now commends to you the delightful Anna Russell, whose explanation of the Ring Cycle (mow more than 60 years old) remains hilarious to this day.

Manolo asked, whose shoes?

Manolo answers, it is the Rene Russo!

Sadly, none of the Manolo’s internet friends were able to correctly identify this week’s celebrity of note.