Manolo Blahnik is one of the top high heels designers who has been working in the industry for more than 40 years. He reveals some of his preferences here.
Blahnik is 72-years old but still has a lot of vigor and excitement when it comes to fashion and high heels. He wants to continue to evolve and be a little bit different with every new collection. Despite this, Blahnik is adamant to maintain some of his signature elements in his shoes, he says in an interview with Harpers Bazaar.
Blahnik says the perfect height for high heels is two inches. “It’s easy to walk and you still have the movement of the body,” he explains. “The rest are cartoon shoes. They’re just pretty in the picture but you can’t walk.”
If you’re looking for advice on how to walk in sky-high heels, Blahnik says not to. “Get a husband to help you when you’re tumbling. Husbands are good because you can tell them, ‘Do this, do that.’ Women have to be really tough nowadays. They are, but they should be tougher with men. Men are really weak things.”
“I’m not what you call a media person or an exhibitionist,” he says, laughing. “I’m very blunt, I just say what I think.”
Being blunt is definately a must in the fashion world. You can’t expect to gather attention and make a bold design if you aren’t blunt and able to say what you think when and how you think it. Blahnik certainly has the credentials. He has won over 10 major awards and has even been honored by Queen Elizabeth II.
In spirit of always evolving, Blahnik says he hasn’t got a favorite color or material. He prefers to try out various styles. Fashion and mainly shoes has truly taken over his life since 1970 when Diana Vreeland encouraged him to fully commit to footwear. Originally from SPain, today he lives in Bath, England in a house with over 30,000 shoes. “Each of my rooms in my house has thousands of shoes. The only room that I have kept free of shoes is my bedroom, my dressing room and the living room. The rest—everywhere, even in the toilet I have shoes.” He adds that he doesn’t like the “revival” style collections and prefers things going forward.
Despite loving shoes, Blahnik has even higher standarts for hairstyles. “Hairdos are the most important thing for a woman, apart from movement. I love movement of heads and people. I’m very sensitive to that, I don’t know why, maybe it’s the movement of the head, or the neck, or the legs or the back.
At the moment Blahnik doesn’t think about stopping. “When I realize that people don’t like what I’m doing, then maybe I’ll stop. I’m not that stupid. Maybe that’s the moment that I’ll stop. But I enjoy doing what I do,” he says. Currently that moment is pretty far.
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