http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/shoppingandfashion/6416453/Manolo-Blahnik-stamps-out-the-platform-shoe.html
Manolo Blahnik stamps out the platform shoe
Sex & The City shoe designer prefers the Zero Sole
By Hilary Alexander, Fashion director
Published: 3:08PM BST 23 Oct 2009
i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01508/manolomain1_jpg_1508480c.jpg Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik beside his leopard print platform design from 1972 ( left) and his 'zero' heels form his latest collection for s/s 2010 (right). Photo: GETTY
There can be chine else in the world as thrilled as Manolo Blahnik, the man who put the sexy shoe into Sex & The City, that the clumpy, plodding reign of The Platform appears to be finally tottering to a close.
Yes, yes, yes. No more platforms, please. Im so glad! the celebrity cobbler said this week at the launch of his spring/summer 2010 collection at Soho House, which features elegant spike-heeled stilettos on a fine, zero sole, and pretty flat sandals.
Maybe I lost money by not doing them (platforms) when they were in fashion this time. But I dont care. I did them in the 70s. That was enough for me. Never again! I dont like them!
A quick browse through the elegant Thames & Hudson publication, Manolo Blahnik drawings, with a foreword by no less than Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, reveals Blahniks obsession with the platform sole nearly forty years ago. Several drawings, signed, dated and accompanied by descriptions and notes in his flowery script, are of platform designs made in 1971 for Ossie Clarke. Another drawing features a lime-green, one-strap sandal, balanced on what Blahnik describes as a brick, of black patent leather; another, an ankle-strap platform in leopard-print with a high, stacked heel, could have stepped straight off the Paris catwalks during the autumn/winter designer shows in March.
Dont talk to me about platforms. Ive done it all before. It bores me now. I want shoes to be beautiful, so women walk beautifully. Shoes should be beautiful - Oh, and of course, a little fun also.
Next seasons collection is certain to thrill the international fan club of Manolo-cholics. The designs are grouped in several categories. Sculpture, for example, takes reference points from the works of Alexander Calder, and architecture, and includes a glorious Guggenheim high-heeled, sandal in curved, semicircles of different neutral shades. Equestrian covers the thonged, strapped and laced styles, with a hint of dressage and saddlery which take their inspiration from the riders and horses in paintings by Rubens. Spectacle gives free rein to Blahniks sense of wit and fun and draws on the theatre and the Big Top. One style, in particular, in purple and white-checked satin and crepe-de-chime, has a hint of the gladiatress, with cut-outs and a peep-toe; another, a peep-toe, sling-back ankle-boot, is in a pretty, blue rose, Liberty print; while a black-and-white canvas, clown spot flat, piped in red, is tied at the ankle with a wide, leather bow.
Applique embraces a range of heels and flats, decorated with revetted, leather flowers, while medieval ironwork craftsmen have given rise to intricate sandals, cut from a single piece of Cordovan leather, worked in swirls and filigrees. There is not a platform to be seen.
But will we be seeing more Manolos in the movie sequel to Sex & The City, which recently started filming in New York?
Ive sent them lots, but you never know, the shoe designer says.
If Im any judge, SJP/Carrie will have taken one look at Manolo Blahnik spring/summer 2010 - and decided she needs much, much more wardrobe space.
In the meantime, Blahnik is working on the second edition of his drawings which will be published next year.
Manolo Blahnik stamps out the platform shoe
Sex & The City shoe designer prefers the Zero Sole
By Hilary Alexander, Fashion director
Published: 3:08PM BST 23 Oct 2009
i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01508/manolomain1_jpg_1508480c.jpg Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik beside his leopard print platform design from 1972 ( left) and his 'zero' heels form his latest collection for s/s 2010 (right). Photo: GETTY
There can be chine else in the world as thrilled as Manolo Blahnik, the man who put the sexy shoe into Sex & The City, that the clumpy, plodding reign of The Platform appears to be finally tottering to a close.
Yes, yes, yes. No more platforms, please. Im so glad! the celebrity cobbler said this week at the launch of his spring/summer 2010 collection at Soho House, which features elegant spike-heeled stilettos on a fine, zero sole, and pretty flat sandals.
Maybe I lost money by not doing them (platforms) when they were in fashion this time. But I dont care. I did them in the 70s. That was enough for me. Never again! I dont like them!
A quick browse through the elegant Thames & Hudson publication, Manolo Blahnik drawings, with a foreword by no less than Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, reveals Blahniks obsession with the platform sole nearly forty years ago. Several drawings, signed, dated and accompanied by descriptions and notes in his flowery script, are of platform designs made in 1971 for Ossie Clarke. Another drawing features a lime-green, one-strap sandal, balanced on what Blahnik describes as a brick, of black patent leather; another, an ankle-strap platform in leopard-print with a high, stacked heel, could have stepped straight off the Paris catwalks during the autumn/winter designer shows in March.
Dont talk to me about platforms. Ive done it all before. It bores me now. I want shoes to be beautiful, so women walk beautifully. Shoes should be beautiful - Oh, and of course, a little fun also.
Next seasons collection is certain to thrill the international fan club of Manolo-cholics. The designs are grouped in several categories. Sculpture, for example, takes reference points from the works of Alexander Calder, and architecture, and includes a glorious Guggenheim high-heeled, sandal in curved, semicircles of different neutral shades. Equestrian covers the thonged, strapped and laced styles, with a hint of dressage and saddlery which take their inspiration from the riders and horses in paintings by Rubens. Spectacle gives free rein to Blahniks sense of wit and fun and draws on the theatre and the Big Top. One style, in particular, in purple and white-checked satin and crepe-de-chime, has a hint of the gladiatress, with cut-outs and a peep-toe; another, a peep-toe, sling-back ankle-boot, is in a pretty, blue rose, Liberty print; while a black-and-white canvas, clown spot flat, piped in red, is tied at the ankle with a wide, leather bow.
Applique embraces a range of heels and flats, decorated with revetted, leather flowers, while medieval ironwork craftsmen have given rise to intricate sandals, cut from a single piece of Cordovan leather, worked in swirls and filigrees. There is not a platform to be seen.
But will we be seeing more Manolos in the movie sequel to Sex & The City, which recently started filming in New York?
Ive sent them lots, but you never know, the shoe designer says.
If Im any judge, SJP/Carrie will have taken one look at Manolo Blahnik spring/summer 2010 - and decided she needs much, much more wardrobe space.
In the meantime, Blahnik is working on the second edition of his drawings which will be published next year.
.
I guess that's why I don't own any of his shoes. 
