Backlash

Manolo says, the fashion bloggers are in revolt!

Look at this from the Manolo’s internet friend Joanne at the Second City Style

I quit. I’m finished. Kaput. After this column there will be no more: my days of writing about “celebrity” designers are finished. Whether it’s Victoria Beckam, J.Lo or Amanda Bynes, I’m tired of promoting celebrity over style, and making fashion synonymous with a cause celeb. I refuse to be part of any contemporary Emperor’s entourage who says s/he can be confused with a designer, or literally h/er “new clothes.”

[…]

No, this is not the phenomenon I’m taking to task. Rather, what’s deplorable and insulting is the rise of the celebrity label (fragrance and beauty brand). First of all, I am of the belief that while people are multidimensional and capable of more than a single achievement, this kind of talent requires, well, something beyond name recognition. Even if you spent years of your life locked in your basement with patterns and fabric and models (who aren’t kept in your basement), you’ve spent time developing skills and actually participated in the trade. What saddens me is the fact that the actual “designers” behind these lines have spent years of their life developing industry skills and find themselves working on behalf of a brand that isn’t even just a generic and perhaps even soul-gutting design house like Liz Claiborne (before Tim Gunn of course). Instead, they find themselves assisting in the development of a person who is likely to have risen to fame because of crotchless photos and repeated tepid performances in films that simply won’t go away. These designers build brands… around an image of a w/oman whose bloated bank account will benefit fifty-fold from their labor. And while it’s true that a designer’s paycheck is without doubt a helpful tool, as is the experience, what would be more helpful to designers is if these celebrities would really take the fashion they admire seriously…and invest in their lines … or actually insist on paying for h/er work (no more free dresses).

This is the sixth or seventh such article the Manolo recently read on his favorite fashion blogs. Indeed, the Manolo himself has been saying this exact thing for many years now: designing the clothing is similar to any other form of art, in that it takes hard work and particular training to become adept at its practice, things which the celebrities are mostly unwilling to invest.

It appears to the Manolo that there is the growing backlash among the fashion bloggers and their readers, among that very class of internet dwellers who take the clothing and the design most seriously. Perhaps it will be enough to slow this pernicious tide.

JUN
2007
08

2007, The Year of the Fetish Shoe!

poshspikes.jpgposhspikes2.jpg

Manolo says, here from the Daily Mail is that saucy trollop the Victoria “Posh” Beckham wearing the ridiculous and dangerous looking spikey shoes.

And thus, with this picture, the Manolo now officially declares 2007,

The Year of the Fetish Shoe.

Forget for now the beautiful, elegant, and stylish shoes, and wear only those shoes which emphatically say to the public “the wearer of these shoes may be hired to satisfy your more outré desires.”

Five and the half inch stiletto heels? The height of fashion!

Weird dominatrix boots? Wear them to the red carpet!

Bizarre and clunky pony-play platforms ? Hottest shoe of the Fall!

It is all too much and too ridiculous, but do not worry, dear friends of the Manolo, this fashion moment shall pass.

JUN
2007
08

Manolo the Columnist

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

Dear Manolo,

I’m about to have lunch with an ex I haven’t seen in fifteen years. Since I last saw him, I’ve come into my own, started a successful business, and have learned how to dress well. I’m thinking of wearing a cute, floaty, little black skirt, something that would work for lunch and a stroll in the park afterwards. What should I wear on my feet?

Nora

Manolo says, here is one of the surprisingly common problems of the modern age, how to induce in the former flame the complicated feelings of remorse, regret, and desire using only conversation, feetwear, and floaty black skirts.

As it is often the case, it is best to take as your model the Audrey Hepburn, whose ethereal beauty and floaty-skirt-wearing ways drove many men to distraction.

Her secret for this was not only in her looks, but in the detached and bemused manner in which she seemed to regard her potential suitors. Such cool indifference, feigned or otherwise, causes men’s emotions to roil and flare, and this is the always point of meeting the old flame, is it not?

What better way to express your inner Audrey than with the Jeweltones from the Stuart Weitzman. Not only are they beautiful, but they have the sturdy low heel so that you will not topple to the ground while pretending to be indifferent in the park.

Jeweltones by Stuart Weitzman   Manolo Likes!  Click!