Manolo Blahnik turns 80 – and is “working non-stop”
Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik is a living legend. He owes his immense success not only to his talent and passion, but also to a…
Madrid–Carrie Bradshaw never really lived – but the newspaper columnist played by Sarah Jessica Parker in the cult series “Sex and the City” has Manolo Blahnik to thank for the rise from successful shoe designer to fashion and pop culture icon.
Carrie created the “Manolos” at the end of the 1990s, becoming a coveted object for many women around the world. And Blahnik became the “shoe god” – as not only his fans, but also media like the “Washington Post” call the always modest, self-deprecating and talkative man.
The Spaniard will be 80 this Sunday. But the man, who still works every day, is not thinking about retirement. “I’m a workaholic, I work non-stop. I can’t understand the thought of retirement,” he told the official newspaper The Guardian in October. “I never tire of creating. Will never stop exploring new things.” And further: “Sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating potato chips? That sounds like hell.”
Blahnik was born on November 27, 1942 on the Canary Island of La Palma to a Czech immigrant who had fled the Nazis from Prague a few years earlier and a Spaniard. The parents ran a banana plantation there. And there, far away from the glittering fashion metropolises, little Manolo is said to have already made shoes for lizards out of chocolate aluminum foil.
La Palma, Geneva, Paris, London
The path seemed to be mapped out early on. The noble shoemaker assures on his company’s website that he only became a shoe designer “by chance”. Why? Well, first he studied law in Geneva. He then went to Paris, attended architecture and literature courses, then the busy young man moved to London at the end of the 1960s, worked there as a photographer and model and reported from the English capital for the Italian edition of “Vogue”. But his dream was to become a stage designer.
Then the “coincidence” mentioned came into play: when meeting Diana Vreeland in New York, he recalled the US fashion designer, columnist and scene star of his drawings for theater costumes. Her “judgment”, as Blahnik said several times: “Young man, concentrate on the extremities. Make them shoes!”
The Spaniard didn’t need to be told twice. In 1971 he opened his first shoe shop in London’s hip district of Chelsea, which soon became the meeting place for the stars and starlets of “Swinging London” thanks to his large circle of friends. Models, artists, authors – and also the darling of the fashion scene at the time, Ossie Clark, who soon commissioned him to design a collection for a fashion show. “That could have been the end of my career,” Blahnik knows. At the time, he forgot to improve the rubber high heels with steel. The models could hardly have walked and quickly fell over. “It was a disaster for me, but people applauded enthusiastically.”
From then on it was only uphill. In 1977, Bianca Jagger rode a gray horse with Blahnik shoes into the legendary New York nightclub Studio 54. The list of famous customers grew longer and longer: Lady Di, Lauren Bacall, top models like Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, who said: “Manolo is the king of shoes.”
Blahnik also worked with almost all designers in the 1980s and 1990s – such as Oscar de la Renta or Calvin Klein. He was very well known in the scene, earned a lot of money and was more than satisfied. But the man, who in his own words “doesn’t like fame at all” and doesn’t care about money, had no idea that everything would become several sizes bigger.
In June 1998, the first episode of “Sex and the City” aired in the United States. The HBO series is based on Candace Bushnell’s column of the same name for The New York Observer about Manhattan’s dating scene. There was hardly an episode in which the “Manolos” were not mentioned enthusiastically. Carrie even allows visiting the Blahnik shop with a “religious experience”.
Exhibition in the Design Museum
The “Manolo fever” (“Huffington Post”) broke out. More and more women dreamed of buying the shoes, which (today) cost around 400 to 4000 euros, even if – as with Carrie – the money was for the rent. The “Manolos” became a household name – also for men and fashion muffles. “I adore Ms. Parker,” Blahnik revealed years ago in an interview with fashion magazine “Vogue”. “The character she played was a big part of my career.”
The list of anonymous and well-known wearers grew longer and longer: Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, Victoria Beckham, Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, Queen Letizia, Jennifer Aniston. And at some point Blahnik will also be recognized as an artist. In 2003 he was the first shoe designer to be honored with an exhibition at the London Design Museum. He also designed shoes for films, such as for Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (2006) or most recently for “Elvis”.
But what about Manolo Blahnik’s stilettos and flats? It is said that they are not only sexy, but also comfortable and timeless. “Vogue” boss Anna Wintour, who claims to only wear the Spaniard’s shoes and “doesn’t even look at others”, says in the documentary “Manolo – The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards” (2017): “He sees it as his Duty to make sure women look beautiful and feel comfortable in their shoes. That is very touching.”
Inspired by nature and literature
With his white gloves, Blahnik continues to draw all the designs himself, drawing inspiration from nature, films, architecture, art and literature. Production has always taken place near Milan. And even if some may have forgotten Carrie: With the support of his Cologne-born niece Kristina (48) – CEO of the family company since 2013 – Blahnik sells more shoes every year. In 2021, record sales of 69.9 million euros were achieved, 65 percent more than in 2020. There are now also shoes for men and a collaboration with Birkenstock.
And how does the future look? He wanted to keep working until he fell over, he emphasized several times. “My greatest achievements are still ahead of me,” he said in the “Guardian” interview. Besides his work, he only loves books, his nine dogs and the banana plantation at his parents’ house (“When I’m there, I still watch the workers for hours.”) He finds “a loner, a lonely soul”, he can’t stand parties said the official newspaper. “I’ll be spending my 80th all alone, I can’t think of anything better.”