As Newsweek recently noted, Cynthia Marcus, Neiman Marcus’ vice president for ladies’ shoes, tells everyone that if Manolo Blahnik “wanted me to change the name to Neiman Blahnik, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
So when the dapper designer arrived recently for a visit to Neiman’s flagship store, the main-floor shoe salon was temporarily transformed into a veritable Manolorama of pencil-slim heels and pointy toes.
Move over, Christian Louboutin! Stand aside, Salvatore Ferragamo! Fashion’s King of Soles knows what women want:
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Shoes. Dangerously sexy, fantastically impractical, wildly expensive and ultra-feminissima shoes.
Madonna proclaims that Manolo’s shoes “are as good as sex, and they last longer”; Jennifer Aniston wore Manolos when she married Brad Pitt. HBO watchers frequently hear Manolo’s name dropped by “Sex and the City’s” fashionistas. “West Wing” first lady Abigail Bartlet wears Manolos to a state dinner at the White House. And In real life, Manolos decorate the feet of everyone from Diana Ross to Kate Moss.
In short, his name has become a byword of pop culture, fashion shorthand for sexy shoes, which rather amazes him. “It’s awesome to be treated like a phenomenon,” Blahnik says. “It’s kind of scary.”
Never mind that these shoes usually cost $400 and up. Or that they may help send your podiatrist’s kids to Harvard. They’ll make your legs look great and, really, isn’t that what heels are all about?
Of course, says Blahnik. “Shoes may sometimes transform people’s legs, minds, attitudes. Really, I think so!” he insists. Put on a pair of heels, and “you become instantly taller. When you have a heel, immediately you walk differently. And this walk, almost insecure or whatever, could just hint a bit of sex.
“It’s the way you move that changes the attitudes. The mystique of the heels has always been that,” said Blahnik, who was born in the Canary Islands, lives in England and works in Italy.
His shoes are almost sinfully gorgeous, but the designer insists that comfort is just as important as beauty. “Absolutely, absolutely! The trick is to combine the right balance and the comfort,” he says. “We try hard to achieve that.”
For women who crave his shoes but can’t comfortably wear stiletto heels, he also offers classic loafers and a dainty ballet flat. Plus, he makes some of his loveliest shoes with just a 2-inch heel.
“You can walk beautifully in that,” Manolo Blahnik says benevolently. “Even if you have the most complicated footsie.”