Miu Miu Glitter Pumps for the Tuesday
Manolo says it is Tuesday and you are back at your desk doing that thing…you know, that thing.. with the computer and the performance memos and the shouting boss who is the female version of the Lou Grant, all gruff on the outside, and but filled with the marshmallow creme on the inside (which, frankly, does not sound all that appealing, but at this stage of the career, you will take what you can get.)
Back in the day, when you were leaving the college and entering the force of working, you were so excited. It was like the adventure, to be earning your first paycheck, and you were the spunky, brave, beautiful heroine, the working-girl Cinderella, part debutant, part warrior queen.
…and now, after 20 years of the hard labor, you would settle with being recognized as one of Cinderella’s least unattractive step-sisters, the slightly prettier and less mean Drizella.
“Cindy, why don’t you go to the ball in my place. Don’t worry, I can take care of those fireplace ashes for you.”
And for the majority of us, no longer the protagonists in our own stories, this is the best for which we can hope: to be the attendant lady, one that will do to swell the progress, start the scene or two, advise the princess.
Sigh…
Look Beautiful fairy tale shoes, the Glitter Pumps from Miu Miu!
Ayyyy! Perhaps the story is not yet written. Maybe this is just the lull between the acts, or the brief stutter step in the epitasis, and you are on the brink of the momentous change, and you will be forced to overcome impossible challenges and rise to your ultimate triumph!
Back in the day, when you were leaving the college and entering the force of working, you were so excited. It was like the adventure, to be earning your first paycheck, and you were the spunky, brave, beautiful heroine, the working-girl Cinderella, part debutant, part warrior queen.…and now, after 20 years of the hard labor, you would settle with being recognized as one of Cinderella’s least unattractive step-sisters, the slightly prettier and less mean Drizella.
“Cindy, why don’t you go to the ball in my place. Don’t worry, I can take care of those fireplace ashes for you.”
And for the majority of us, no longer the protagonists in our own stories, this is the best for which we can hope: to be the attendant lady, one that will do to swell the progress, start the scene or two, advise the princess.
Sigh…
Look Beautiful fairy tale shoes, the Glitter Pumps from Miu Miu!
Ayyyy! Perhaps the story is not yet written. Maybe this is just the lull between the acts, or the brief stutter step in the epitasis, and you are on the brink of the momentous change, and you will be forced to overcome impossible challenges and rise to your ultimate triumph!
Manolo the Columnist: Key West from olsenHaus
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,
I would be happy to wear cruelty-free shoes when possible, but I can’t find many non-ugly ones except for my Converse Chuck Taylors. I love my Chucks, but their usage is limited. I would also like to find out if any of the newer “vegan leathers” can be used to create a super-fantastic shoe. In my experience, fake leather is sweaty plastic ick that cracks and peels. I know about Stella McCartney’s vegan shoes, but they’re way out of my price range. Can you help out a shoe-lover who would like to transition to a leather-free wardrobe where possible?
Jill
Manolo says the short answer is no, the Manolo is of little or no help when it comes to finding the good-looking vegan shoes.
And, the long answer, it is also no, or perhaps nooooooooo.
Finding the vegan shoes that are both stylish and not made from the recycled plastic waste is one of the most impossible of tasks.
It is because, from the beginning of time, leather has always been the material most perfectly suited for the shoes. It is inexpensive,
handsome, pliable, durable, moderately weatherproof, and capable of being worked into beautiful and practical forms.
But, the Manolo understands that there are those who object to the manner in which the leather is obtained, and so here is the Key West, the good-looking sandal from the vegan shoe specialist olsenHaus, the shoes which may be what you are looking for.
Blue Suede Heartbreak
N.B. Our friend the Sarah, who wrote brilliantly about shoes and sin, is back with more sad news.Elvis’s first single was “Heartbreak Hotel.” The first track on his first studio album was “Blue Suede Shoes.” This cannot possibly be a coincidence. Elvis clearly knew that when you purchase a pair of suede shoes you might as well book yourself an overnight stay at the Heartbreak Hotel. Why else would he have so enthusiastically adopted the lyrics to Carl Perkins’s hit, immortalizing forever the warning, “Don’t you step on my blue suede shoes.”
The Shoes of the Blue Suede, belonging to The King
It’s possible that somewhere, some tormented graduate student has worked up an analysis of the lyrics of “Blue Suede Shoes” and argued that the song is, at heart, not so much a warning about the shoes as it is about protecting the singer’s masculinity, or identity, or coolness. That graduate student has obviously never owned a pair of suede shoes.
My mother had a pair. They were lovely. Black suede pumps with a scalloped edging and a delicately curved high heel that was at least an inch higher than the shoes she wore for work. We knew they were special because she kept them in a box on the highest shelf of her closet and, unlike every other pair of shoes she owned, we were never allowed to try them on.
Naturally, I conceived an instant desire for suede shoes of my very own.
I have them now. In fact, I have several pairs of suede shoes. I even have a pair of blue suede shoes. (And honey, stay offa my shoes!) And here is what I have learned, despite eschewing the temptations offered by a pair of pale pink suede Betsey Johnson Mary Janes with 5 inch heels in favor of the far more practical black suede Betsey Johnson Mary Janes with 5 inch heels:1. You cannot wear suede shoes in the summer. Fashion crime.
2. You cannot wear suede shoes in the spring. Marginally less significant fashion crime. Also, it’s going to rain.
3. You probably should not wear suede in the fall. It’s going to rain. All month. And next month too.
4. You dare not wear suede in the winter. It’s going to rain. And snow. And also sleet. And there will be road salt. Also de-icing chemicals.
Suede shoes—at least for those of us poor mortals who live in the Midwest and must trip the light fantastic toe through separate and equally inclement seasons—can never be worn at all.
And if that does not break the hearts of the friends of the Manolo, I cannot think that they have any hearts at all.
Manolo Blahnik Suede Ankle Boot for the Monday
Manolo says, from Aquinas:Pulchritudo non habet rationem appetibilis nisi inquantum induit rationem boni: Sic enim et verum appetibile est: Sed secundum rationem propriam habet claritatemOur friend Ecco says that this is Aquinas’s proof that beauty, goodness, and truth are “equivalent and convertible”.
But, the Manolo does not need the Aquinas, nor the Ecco, to know this.
All the humble shoeblogger must do to understand that truth and beauty and goodness are the same is gaze upon this…
The pointy-toed suede snkle boot from the Maestro Manolo Blahnik.
Manolo the Columnist: Stefanie from La Canadienne
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.Dear the Manolo,
I would like to ask for your expert advice and opinion. I bought a pair of tight-fit blue jeans and I need a nice pair of brown or black kneehigh (or a bit lower) walking boots that are comfortable, orthopaedic, and at the same time stylish to wear with them. I want to wear them for years and years and still love them.
Olivia
Manolo says, this word “orthopaedic”, it is to the shoe connoisseur what the garlic-dipped crucifix is to the vampire, the object of loathing and terror.
How could it be otherwise?
To be the devoted lover of the shoes is to invest our emotions in the objects of beauty and impracticality. The Louboutin with the four inch heels can never be orthopaedic. It is simply impossible. They are as water and oil.
And, yet, because we are not the vampires, but merely people of aesthetic discernment, we must sympathize with those who cannot wear the beautiful and impractical shoes.
To have the painful feets is the greater curse, and so the Manolo as the man of feeling and humanity, must master his revulsion for orthopaedia and help these poor peoples in their time of needs.
Yes, it is true, the Manolo is the humanitarian.
Look! Here is the Stefanie from La Canadienne, the knee-high boot that is not only stylish and comfortable (perhaps even orthopaedic) but also weather proof, just in time for the autumn.
