Why you’ll never catch Manolo Blahnik designing sneakers
Visually, I find them horrendous, declares the outspoken king of the high heel – who, after 50 years in fashion, has no time for influencers or boring niceties.
His shoes, loved by everyone from royalty and politicians to reality TV stars, might be affectionately known as “Manolos” but there’s really only one way to address the genius behind those creations: Mr Blahnik. It’s the title used by everyone who works with him and which encapsulates the old-school charm, eccentric creativity and romance he embodies like no other living designer.
At 78, and marking 50 years in the business of making beautiful shoes, Mr Blahnik is as utterly himself as ever, untouched by boring modern niceties of PR box-ticking. For example, despite creating some of the most of-the-moment footwear of the past half century, he recoils at the idea of kowtowing to trends.
