Manolo Blahnik

Manolo Blahnik has been stilbesteroligning brake shoes since 1971 and has received many prestigious awards, including trinity special awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and the British Councils Accessory Designer of the course of study in 1990 and 1999. Despite having had no formal training, hes jadee it all backless, heel-less, wedges, stilettos, and kittens, plain platforms. Now he is one of the very few brand call that have capture a synonym for the product Hoover, Kleenex, Band-Aid, Post-it and Manolo. He sightvass literature and architecture at the University of Geneva, and art at LEcole des Beaux-Arts and LEcole du Louvre in Paris.Originally, he wanted to be a set inclinationer and took a portfolio of drawings to New York in 1971 in the expect of finding work there. Paloma Picasso, a friend from Paris, arranged for him to meet Diana Vreeland, the editor of US Vogue. When she looked at his drawings, Vreeland exclaimed How amusing. Amusing. You can do accessories very well. Why move intot you do that? Go make shoes. Your shoes in these drawings atomic number 18 so amusing. By the late 1990s when the fashion writer and historiographer Colin McDowell observed Blahnik at work, he had been in command of his craft for years. The go out is the book titled simply Manolo Blahnik.The process of creating a Manolo Blahnik shoe begins with Manolo sketching it at home in Bath, his London office or one of his Union Italian factories with a Tombo Japanese brush pen in tierce minutes of firm, assured hand movements followed by precise, precipitously little jabs as the details ar fitted in. Ive been studying the art of the shoe for over twenty years, says Blahnik. I know every process. I know how to cut and cut away here (the side of the shoe) and close up make it so that it stays on the foot. And the secret of toe cleavage, a very important part of the finishuality of the shoe. You must only build the first two cracks.And the heel. Even if its twelve centimeters high it static has to feel secure and thats a question of balance. Blahnik drawings exhibit the design skill and craftsmanship that footwear design demands. His design process begins with color-rich sketches that be so finely executed they are as sought-after as the shoes themselves. Some reflect disposition, mostly recurring botanical themes composition others are more dramatic and others still verging on the fetishistic. Some are so fragile-looking its impossible to imagine them withstanding the challenge of being cadaverous these shoes are the mental that insist you take taxis.Consider Carries persistent one liner in Sex and the City, when she was robbed in the street please sir. You can take my Fendi baguette, you can take my ring and my watch, but dont take my Manolos Blahniks, she pleaded. Pathos aside, the scene is testament to the gravitas attributed to Mr. Blahniks shoes. Exquisite design sketches Blahniks richly colored draw ings are oftentimes exuberantly exaggerated hyper-arched with impossibly thin heels which add to the sense of caper that imbues his designs Presented here on a grand scale ? MetroIn an interview with aRude magazine, in November last year, Blahnik talks about the technical details involved in his creative process In relation to your shoe-drawings, are your lines more Ingres, Matisse, Picasso or Aubrey Beardsley? ? Oh, I would love to even come close to one of those geniuses. How can I compare myself to them? Sometimes I can spontaneously accept immersed in Ingres and the divine purity of his brushstrokes. Matisse and Picasso always visit my mind as well. What medium do you typically draw in and why? ?I usually draw in China ink. I love the body and feel of the liquid.What other mediums did you experiment drawing with before arriving at your posture favorite? ?I experimented with acrylic and oil paints in the 70s. Later I tried watercolors until I arrived at the ink. I have a lways similarly used the Staedtler pencils to sketch. I still use them. 3H Staedtler is my favorite. Do you prefer, in your drawing, sharp or broad lines, or a combination of both and what kind of news report do you use? ?The lines depend on the kind of paper I use. I usually use Cartridge paper. When do you expend colors and what essential role do they play in the boilersuit harmony of your drawings? Colors play a huge role in my design process. By nature I am always excite by very bright Mediterranean colors. I grew up with nature and flowers and beautiful landscapes, so that is always ingested through my shoes. In 2003, Manolo Blahnik Drawings, co-authored by Anna Wintour was published. Contained within it, the book lays out his designs as brightly colored whimsies, sketches that deftly convey the essences of his creations. As designs, the shoes are salacious cartoons of themselves, curvy and heeled, bejeweled and shimmery. Celeb quotes, interspersed throughout, heighten th e coiling sense of posturing and play.Madonna says, they are as good as sex and they last longer. His sketches are executed with exuberance and deftness that they have become as sought after as the shoes themselves. Inimitable in style, the drawings vividly convey Blahniks unique vision. References www. manoloblahnik. com Wintour, A. & Roberts, M. (2003). Manolo Blahnik Drawings. New York Thames & Hudson Mcdowell, C. (2000). Manolo Blahnik. U. K. HarperCollins Ude, I. (2010, Nov. ) Manolo Blahniks gem-like miracles. aRude magazine. Retrieved Nov 29, 2011 from http//www. arudemag. com/in-his-shoes/