Shoes transform women. 
He is the leading creative designer in the fashion footwear world. And yet, he sees himself as a shoe engineer rather than a designer. His biographer, journalist Colin McDowell, defines him as half sculptor and half engineer, because his shoes are “perfect works of imagination and aeronautics”.

Any summary of Manolo Blahnik’s life has to include an international element. Born in the Canary Islands to a Spanish mother and a Czech father in 1943, cultural diversity has defined his very existence. He began his university studies in Geneva, where he studied architecture and literature. After only a year, he moved to Paris to study art. “Architecture is the quest for harmony, balance, perfection...what I seek in my shoes,” Bahnik himself has said. “I don’t like numbers. Perhaps that’s why I’m a frustrated architect”.

In 1970 he settled in London, where he found work as photographer for The Sunday Times. This is how he entered the world of fashion. He became friends with Paloma Picasso, who in 1971 introduced him to the woman who steered him to design luxury footwear, Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue USA.

In 1973 Manolo Blahnik opened Zapata, his first shop, in Old Church Street (Chelsea, London, UK). His friends Paloma Picasso, Bianca Jagger, Anjelica Huston, Tina Chow and Marisa Berenson were his first clients. Since they were trendsetting women, they became his best ambassadors in the fashion world. Not even big fashion designers like Dior, Yves Saint Laurent or Calvin Klein could go without his creations in the catwalks.

Zapata soon became Manolo Blahnik, and his creations were transformed, by general consensus, into Manolos, “except in L.A., where they call them Blahniks”, says the artist. He draws inspiration from art, cinema, architecture, interior design, literature.... and vulgarity. “I draw much inspiration from vulgarity, which I legitimise through humour. Fashion has come to a point of total vulgarity, but, with intelligence, one can still be elegant”, states Blahnik. He adds that “elegance is found in things that are here to stay. It is in used, patched-up things. That rug we walk over every day, but which will always be better than new. That is the secret of elegance. Why do we modernise streets and rob them of their historic charm? Elegance has everything to do with the past, with respect for tradition. Fortunately, they won’t be able to do away with some things, like a pair of well-made shoes”.

Blahnik’s shoes have been said to “transform women”. His claims are backed up by references in Sex and the City scripts and comments from celebrities like Madonna, who said that the pleasure of owning a pair of Manolos lasts longer than sex. The 90s series starring Sarah Jessica Parker paid multiple tributes to his creations. The central plot of a certain chapter revolved around Manolos. The Sedaraby design was the only item on the character’s bridal list, for her future wedding “with herself”. It is interesting that Manolo Blahnik himself does not seem that interested in the series that has launched him to the status of popular idol. “I have not had much time to watch it,” he concedes, “but from what I have seen of it, I think it’s great”.

The fact is that Manolos are already collectors’ items. In the US, prices range from $500 to $2,500, and in Europe they can exceed 3,000 euros. Some people buy them to show them off at special occasions, while others derive satisfaction simply from looking at them every day. They are regarded as real gems. Some have become museum pieces, such as the legendary Manoletinas o the Avion, a design made of light aluminium, fruit of Blahnik’s experimentation with integrating new materials for shoes

Is there any design which he regrets? He has not admitted it with all clarity, but he has confessed that The brick platform shoes he designed in the 70s today remind him “of Frankenstein”.