Manolo says, in honor of the Christmas Season the Manolo has revived the his Basement of the Bargains Blog, with the Twistie doing the honors as the bargain blogger. Go now and look at the things the Twistie and the Manolo have selected for your bargain-shopping enjoyment.
Manolo says, there is the longish article in the Spanish-language publication Paula about the rising influence of the fashion blogosphere.
Esculpir la industria de la moda, elegir íconos como Mary-Kate Olsen, decidir qué va a ser tendencia y qué no. No hace falta ser un diseñador reconocido o un monstruo sagrado de las pasarelas para dictar los cánones. Basta tener una computadora y conexión a internet. Colgar imágenes, comentarlas, hundir o ensalzar una creación… se convierten hoy en auténticos privilegios de bloguero. “No se puede tomar el pulso al universo de la moda sin devorar bitácoras”, opina la estilista española Cristina M. Faber. Sin embargo, es difícil saber qué viene antes: si la gallina o el huevo.¿Las fotografías que pululan por la red reflejan el estilo dictado previamente por los diseñadores, o son más bien las colecciones las que beben de las estrambóticas novedades que circulan por el ciberespacio?
Naturally, the writer mentions your humble shoeblogging friend the Manolo.
Prefiere mantenerse en el anonimato, pero si algo está claro, es que Manolo the Shoeblogger no es Manolo Blahnik. Su web es un homenaje al diseñador canario del calzado idolatrado por las protagonistas de la serie Sex and the city. “Un zapato es una obra de arte; sus líneas conmueven”, considera. Vive entre Nueva York y Los Ángeles y ronda los 40 años. Ya de pequeño soñaba con zapatos. “Pero nunca tuve dotes de creador, así que me conformo con escribir sobre ellos”, explica. Más de 6 mil lectores devoran a diario sus reseñas sobre Christian Louboutin o el británico Rupert Sanderson. ¿Un momento inolvidable? Leer un artículo del London Times, donde Blahnik dejó caer que admiraba su bitácora. Residió en Madrid hace unos años, y en parte por nostalgia y por el jugoso mercado bloguero español, tiene previsto fundar dos webs en castellano: Manolo y sus Zapatos y Manolo Novias. shoeblogs.com
Yes, it is true what is said here, the Manolo will soon be launching new blogs in the Spanish language!
There are far too few fashion blogs in other languages and the Manolo aims to rectify this with bitácoras super-fantasticas!
And so, if you have the native fluency in Spanish, and are obsessed with the moda, the famosos, and especially the zapatos, you may wish to send the Manolo the email about these new employment opportunities.
Manolo says, the Manolo bloggers have put together their gift guides so as to ease our shopping distress.
Isidore Gallant at Manolo for the Men has recommend ties and cufflinks and Frenchback boxers for the fancy man in your life.
At the Manolo for the Brides, Never teh Bride’s list is all about the luxury items.
At the magnificent Ayyyy! blog, the Manolo’s friend Spirit Fingers has given us her gift suggestions for the men and for the womens.
Darling Francesca, from the Manolo for the Big Girl, provides us the with the gift guide to end all gift guides, with dozens of ideas for every mood and event.
Twistie has provided us with the list full of kitchenware and cookbooks to satisfy the maker of the Christmas goodies.
The Good Glinda provides us with the list for the parents who must buy something for everyone.
Manolo says, today as the Manolo gathers with his friends and family to give heartfelt thanks for the true blessings that Divine Providence has bestowed upon him, you may be assured, dearest internet friends, that you will be counted among the foremost of these blessings.
Allow the Manolo to now wish upon you the happiest of Thanksgivings.
Manolo asked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the Katherine Heigl!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend Jennie, who got the correct answer on her third guess and who was the only person to identify the celebrity.
As the Manolo had hinted, here is the young woman, only 29 years old, who dresses like the older and more matronly woman. Worse as the performer, she has the stolid and dourly Germanic quality that might be mildly amusing in the Bremen hausfrau who cleans your gasthaus room, but is much less so in the actress.
The Bret and Jemaine say, It’s real good for making two things one
But just like that roll of tape
Love sometimes breaks off before you were done.
Manolo says, on the left you see the beautiful Miss Fred Tacco Boot from Christian Louboutin which the Manolo mentioned earlier today, retail price $695.
On the right you see the Steve Madden Becks patent leather bootie which was spotted by the Manolo’s internet friend Carrie, and priced at $149.95.
Clearly, the Louboutin has inspired the Madden shoe, although, if one looks closely, as our internet friend Cassandra has done…
Is it just me or is the picture on the Steve Madden link Carrie posted the same exact picture of Louboutin’s shoe, but with the red sole photoshopped out?
And that is indeed the exact conclusion of the Manolo, that the graphic designers at the Steve Madden have simply stolen the Saks Fifth Avenue picture, applied the computer, and… hey presto! It is now the Steve Madden shoe!
Of the course, the other Steve Madden Becks Booties, in the different colors, required slightly more complex photoshopping mad skillz…
Manolo says, ayyyy! The Magnificent Hasselhoff and two-surgically altered blondes!
Manolo says, the more the Manolo looks at this black patent leather bootie from Christian Louboutin, the more the Manolo has come to like it. For the Manolo it is the gold piping and the gold heel that have been both troubling and endearing.
“Is it too much? Maybe… No… Yes… Maybe… It is cute.”
Such are the internal deliberations of the Manolo.
As for the name, the Miss Fred Tacco, the Manolo has no idea.
Manolo says, here are the few links which may perhaps amuse…
C’est le rêve de tous les éditeurs : publier un livre qui marche.
Manolo says, the Manolo’s shoe-loving friend Wayne sends the Manolo the link to this article in the Toronto Star
Among the curiosities on the fall 2007 runways: Balenciaga’s Lego/robot shoes, Chloe’s curved cone heels, and Stella McCartney’s tilted platforms that angle the toes towards the sky.
Spring offerings are even more theatrical with Prada heels that look like floral doorstops. Marc Jacobs’ surreal runway styles included some where the models’ heels rested above the shoes.
The current selection at Holt Renfrew Bloor St. bears out the trend, with “hidden” platforms cloaked in green leather and heels that look like shiny black popsicles, or sawed-off coffee table legs.
No wonder the new shoe department at Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York flagship store has its own zip code.
“Footwear seems to be where it’s at when it comes to the forefront of design,” comments Tommy Ton, a photographer who documents street fashion in Toronto and abroad. After the recent spring ’08 collections in Europe and New York, Ton believes that the excitement in fashion has shifted to ground level.
“Footwear has always been an art form but designers are really pushing the envelope and treating it like art,” Ton says. “They’re giving women something more visually stimulating and challenging to sink their teeth and pocketbooks into. Fabrications and ornamentation are becoming more elaborate and eccentric.”
“At the Dior store in Paris, some of the shoes are like works of art,” says Debra Anissimoff, owner of two Zola Shoes stores in Toronto. “They are embellished, and strapped, and so over the top, with heels like a series of red lacquer balls.”
The more cutting-edge styles are presented in a separate gallery-like environment that enhances the wow factor. “Seeing those shoes on the shelves – you could have been looking at a glass vase,” Anissimoff says.
That feetwear is currently at the forefront of fashion design is not news to the regular readers of the Manolo, for it is here, at the humble shoe blog of the Manolo, where shoes have always and forever been celebrated as high art.
That others are just now coming to realize this pleases the Manolo very much.
