The Bones of the San Valentine

Manolo says, many happy returns for the Día de San Valentín! May your day be filled with joy and chocolate hearts and trinkets made of pure love (and diamonds)!

And now, let us not forget the reason for the season…

The Reliquary of Saint Valentine in the church of San Anton in Madrid

The Reliquary of Saint Valentine in the church of San Anton in Madrid

Yes, those are indeed the boney remains of the San Valentín, or at the least one of the many relics that are claimed to exist.

This nearly complete set of bones, which is one of the lesser known, is in the Real Iglesia de San Anton, on the Calle Horteleza, very near to the place where the tiny Manolo first found employment, many decades ago, in the shoe shop of the Mercurio Albornoz y Bahmonde. Often were the times when the little Manolo would go into the church for mass, only to discover the lovers who bore the cross of stars kneeling in supplication before this reliquary.

As you may see in the picture above, however, the bones of the Saint Valentine are the not especially big deal to the priests who run parish of San Anton. When the Manolo last paid the visit, the reliquary was covered with the dust, sitting alone in the rarely-visited side chapel. (Please to make your own metaphor, personal or global, about the state of modern love.)

And, now, because the Manolo is the beneficent dictator, the shoes suitable for the day of San Valentine!

Louboutin Iriza Strass Crystal Pumps

Here from the super fantastic Christin Louboutin is the Iriza Strass Crystal Pump, the most fabulous sort of shoe to wear to the mass of devotion to the Saint Valentine. And then, afterwards, to the muy romantico dinner tête-à-tête with that certain someone who has your heart locked up in their reliquary of love.

JUL
2014
31

Manolo the Columnist: Audrey Glitter Sandals from Christian Louboutin

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

Dear Manolo,

In three weeks, I’m turning 40 years old. Oddly, I’m not yet upset about passing this major milestone. although, I am worried that it’ll feel bad
on the big day itself. To forestall that can you please suggest some party shoes for the big day. My husband is planning a evening dinner
with friends at a nice restaurant, so something that will go with my little black dress.

Stephanie

Manolo says, do not despair, it is true what everyone is saying, 40 is the new 36 and three-quarters!

Indeed, thanks to the miraculous medical advances and our comparatively easy lives, the average 40, 50, or 60 year-old person today is more youthful and energetic than ever before in the history of the world. Things that in the past that would have been the untreatable chronic problems, such as the hernias and the gimpy knees, are now fixed via the minor outpatient surgery

Of course, the downside for the society is that we have extended adolescence into the very-late 20s, which in some cases may be defined as 56, with angsty teenaged behavior continuing in some cases into dotage.

Better to be the 40-year-old adult thinks the Old Man Manolo, when one is free to behave in the enjoyably adult ways: grown up cocktails, black coffee, and delightful conversation about meaningful books and movies with witty persons of substance. Forty should always be the best year.

Here is the Audrey Glitter Strappy Sandals from the Christian Louboutin, the super sophisticated evening sandal that meets the definition of grown-up pleasure.

Audrey Glitter Sandals from Christian Louboutin

Manolo the Columnist: Laurance Cage Sandals from Christians Louboutin

Dear Manolo,

Not only is weather here abominable, but worse my boyfriend won’t be able to get back from Atlanta in time for Valentine’s Day. Can you please, please suggest some shoes that will cheer me up.

Monica

Manolo says, just the mere two weeks ago, the Manolo was mocking the apocalyptic prognostications of the weather people, and now, ayyyyy! The real Snowpocalypse his finally here! And now, the Manolo is regretting his insouciance.

Although, one must admit that it that the current situation is very much like the fairy tale of the Weatherboy who cried Winter Storm Wolf. If every little flurry of flakes is greeted with the shouts of panicked trepidation, then when the real storms of ice arrive we all be out on the roads, where we will encounter the fellow drivers who have only recently arrived from exotic places such as Equatorial Guinea and Miami, where ice is merely theoretical.

At that point, after you have abandoned your car in the ditch along side the road and are trudging home through three miles of ice and snow in your flip-flops, because you had rushed out at the last minute to buy the extra feathers for your down comforter, you will be drawing up elaborate plans of revenge on the entire class of weather people, involving ice floes, arctic seas and the hungry, hungry polar bears.

Look! Here is the Laurence leather cage, lace-up sandals from the Christian Louboutin, in the beautiful riviera blue, because, of the course, the French Riviera is where you would rather be.

Laurance Cage Sandals from Louboutin

It’s a Look

to quote our dear friend Thombeau…but is it enough?

This ever-subtle wedge comes from that master of the understatement, Christian Louboutin.

Somewhere in Shepherd’s Bush Holland Park, Edina Monsoon is missing a hoof cover.

Cinderella. Louboutin. Cinderella by Louboutin!

Cinderella by Louboutin!

Manolo says, Ayyyyyy! Finally, the fairy tale has come true!

Christian Louboutin Icone Translucent Sandals for the Friday Night

Manolo says, it is Friday and you are saying to yourself, “Huzzah! The weekend, she is here,” even though, technically, the weekend, she is not here, as you still have several hours of paid drudgery left to perform.

Still, what is required at this very moment is the little day dreaming, something to take you away from that which is oppressive and dull, to the glittering imaginary place where you are the Queen of the May!

And, what better imaginary coronation garb for your regal feets than the Icone Translucent Studded Sandals from the Christian Louboutin?

Christian Louboutin Icone Translucent Sandals

Ayyyy! So beautiful! So perfect!

For your robes, you will shun ermine and velvet, and wear only gossamer silk; your crown, the tiara of summer flowers!

Christian Louboutin Troisronds Platform Sandals for the Weekend

Manolo says, it is the TGI Friday. Time to cut loose, cut up, and cut out early from the place of employment, the better to get home to tart yourself up for the fantastic night of Friday evening fun.

But first, before you leave the desk, one last look at what the Shoebloggering Manolo is up to, because, the Lord knows, when you get home you will not have the time to look at the computer, what with all of the demands placed upon you by your extensive regime de toilette. (Ayyy! Just getting into the foundation garments will take the half hour.)

And so, to send your on your way, here is what the Manolo has planned for your weekend…

Troisronds Leather and Chain Platform Sandals from Christian Louboutin

The Troisronds Leather and Chain Platform Sandals from the Christian Louboutin.

Imagine how much more super fantastic your Friday night would be with these on your feets!

Christian Louboutin at One Dollar Per The Week

Manolo says, here is the article to be filed under the heading, Super Models Say the Darnedest Things.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Beautiful but Dim

“They make me feel like a woman. I feel they make you look very sexy, the cuts are beautiful, the lines, the colors the embellishments,” Huntington-Whiteley gushed to FOX411’s Pop Tarts column at the Christian Louboutin’s book launch at Barney’s in Beverly Hills last week. “I think he managed to capture something so special for women, every girl should be lucky enough to have them.”

Yet amid this cash-strapped economy, the British supermodel has some words of wisdom for women pining for a pair – which retail at around $700.

“If you can save up for a pair put away a dollar a week,” she advised. “It’s worth it girls. It is really worth it!”

It just like buying on layaway at the K-Mart!

Only, at one dollar per the week, it will take fourteen years, in which case, allow the Manolo to suggest something that might still be in style in the year 2025…the Wallis Mary Jane Pumps

Christian Louboutin Wallis Mary Jane Pumps

Also available in the black, and the camel, this is the sort of shoe that can be worn well into your dotage, which in the case of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley may already have arrived.

P.S. The tip of the Manolo’s hat to his friend Erik.

Splash Peep-Toe Pumps from the Christian Louboutin for the Monday

Manolo says, it is Monday and you are back at your desk, and already the Summer of 2011 is fading into the rearview mirror of your life, growing smaller with each passing second.

Of the course, given what the Summer of 2011 was like, this is not necessarily the bad thing.

Indeed, if you could, you would jam your foot down onto the accelerator of the life-mobile, spewing gravel and little chips of asphalt into the face of the Summer of 2011, as you sped away.

But you cannot.

The great tragedy is that life is not the car your can drive from place to place, stopping when the mood strikes you. It is more like the intercity Greyhound that occasionally conveys you through scenes of breath-taking beauty, but more often is stuck for long periods in industrial wastelands, or enormous stretches of poorly made tract homes.

But, you are obliged to do your best while on the trip, by making friends with the fellow passengers, and trying to keep the spirits up.

And, what better way to buoy one spirits than with beautiful shoes, such as these luxurious suede and fox platform peep-toe pumps, the Splash from the Christian Louboutin?

Christian Louboutin Splash Suede and Fox Fur Peep Toe Pumps

Louboutin Measuring Tape Sandal

Christian Louboutin Measuring Tape Sandal

Manolo says, the Manolo is greatly amused by the visual wit of this Christian Louboutin sandal…très amusant, no?

Christian Louboutin Ana Strass Crystal Sandals for the Monday

Manolo says, it is Monday and you are back at your desk wishing that you had managed to make the first two weeks of June your vacation, rather than the last two weeks of July.

You need the break, because a) it has been the powerfully awful month or so at your place of employment, what with the off-laying of various low-level employees and the added work which has been piled upon you as the result, and b) because the school year has ended for your children, and your 12-year-old son and your 15-year-old daughter are at the home, alone, unsupervised.

This should not really be the cause of worry, as not only are they the generally good children, but they are also plenty old enough to care for themselves. Indeed, your own grandfather held down the adult employment by that age, something he never failed to mention at the various family gatherings.

“On Friday afternoons, I’d hand your great-grandfather my pay envelope, and he’d hand me back two one-dollar bills. That was my money for the whole week. Lunch, Dinner, Sodey Pop. The whole shootin’ match. Fourteen years old, working a man’s job for two dollars a week.”

“Yes, Grandpap,” you’d answer, dutifully.

“A course, didn’t need that much money back then. A nickle’d get you a candy bar, a dime would do for a hotdog.”

“Yes, Grandpap.”

“Bought my first car for $94. People now-a-days don’t know the meaning of money. Think it grows on trees like persimmons, er pippin apples.”

Look! Beautiful shoes!

Christian Louboutin Ana Strass Crystal Sandals

The Ana Strass Crystal Sandals from the Christian Louboutin.

What would your Grandpappy say?

APR
2011
02

A Louboutin Love Affair

N.B. Today, the Manolo’s young friend Abigail Wilder Boatwright tells us about buying her first pair of the Louboutins.

Louboutin!

Louboutin!

I can’t remember when I fell in love with Louboutins. I know I was in college when I first began to notice them, on celebrities and in magazine spreads, and I know that I immediately had to have them. I just didn’t have the funds, so I spent a lot of time looking at them in magazines.

Of course, every chance I got, I tried on Loubies at department stores. Although, when I was planning my wedding, I decided not to buy a pair for my wedding outfit. Everything was already costing too much. But , when we went to Paris, last January, on our honeymoon, and I had to make the mandatory stop at Louboutin’s flagship store.

The Louboutin Flagship Store

Me, in Paris, at the Louboutin Store!

Tres bien!

I tried on shoes I’d never seen before and was in heaven. I decided to save for a pair of the No Prive slingbacks, and I really fell in love with two pairs that have since disappeared from the shelves: the Plume Anemone and the Studio 120 peep-toe pumps.

The Plume Anemone matched my wedding colors, and they are the hottest shoes I’ve ever seen.

Plume Anemone from Christian Louboutin

Plume Anemone from Christian Louboutin... Hot Feathery Shoes!

The Studio 120 matched my husband’s wedding ring exactly!

Studio 120 from Christian Louboutin

Studio 120 from Christian Louboutin and My Husband's Hand

I enjoyed visiting the store, but I didn’t buy Louboutins in Paris, the exchange rate was horrible.

I’m happy to report that early this year, I’d finally saved enough money to get a pair. After much deliberation, I decided on that classic pair, the No Prive Patent Slingback from Neiman Marcus. I ordered them online and waited anxiously for them to arrive.

When I got that package in the mail, I was shaking with excitement to open it up. My shoes were far more beautiful in person than I’d imagined. I had to take a photo with my ring on the heel, like I’d seen many brides do.

Christian Louboutin Red Soles

Christian Louboutin Red Soles, and my Wedding Ring.

I put my shoes on and walked around the house, showing them off to my husband. I realized they made my feet look dainty and sexy, and they instantly made me feel about 10x more beautiful. I just can’t describe
how much I love these shoes.

My Loubies made their official debut this weekend, at a masquerade party at our house. Though they are 4.5 inches high, they held up gallantly to four hours of socializing. I wear them around the house every chance I get—my cats and dog probably think I’m crazy. But I can’t wait to wear them out on the town.

My husband soon realized this is only the first of my red-sole brigade. I’m content for now, but my Loubies will need some friends someday!