Manolo Blahnik Teal Suede Mule
View Similar Items
Manolo Blahnik Teal Suede Mule
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 39 1/2 (EU)
- Place of Origin:Italy
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 2149003264961stDibs: AU140406435669
Manolo Blahnik
There may be no designer with as wide a breadth of references as the fashion and footwear icon Manolo Blahnik, whose stated sources of inspiration for the creation of his sublime shoes include — but are not limited to — Diana Vreeland, ancient Greece, 21st-century architecture, Spanish cinema and Piet Mondrian.
It’s a fittingly robust list for someone who has spent a lifetime in the self-described “pursuit of beauty.”
Born in 1942 in Spain’s Canary Islands, Blahnik had an early exposure to shoemaking: During World War II, his designer-shoe-loving mother enlisted a local cobbler to teach her to make her own footwear from available materials. The young Blahnik was intrigued.
After briefly studying law in Switzerland with the intention of becoming a diplomat, Blahnik moved to Paris, where he took a job in a vintage clothing shop while studying art at École des Beaux-Arts as well as set design at the art school of the Louvre. It wasn’t until years later, however, that he would realize his calling as a shoe designer. In the late 1960s, Blahnik relocated to London, where he worked for both the Sunday Times and Vogue. In the early 1970s, the renowned American Vogue editor Diana Vreeland saw his sketches and urged him to pursue footwear.
After a debut collection for celebrated fashion designer Ossie Clark — featuring models that Blahnik had gotten to know through his work in the fashion industry, among them Twiggy — received acclaim, he created footwear for illustrious dressmaker Jean Muir and apprenticed with professional shoemakers in London to perfect his craft. By 1973 he had bought out the shoe boutique Zapata and made it his own. Bloomingdale’s introduced him to the American market with a collection a few years later.
Vintage Manolo Blahnik shoes are famous for their theatricality, as the designer is well known for the whimsical, fantastical elements he brings to footwear, often in an explosive palette. “I have always approached color in a bold way, from all angles and variations,” he once said. “Always searching for the poetry of an impossible color.” Tack on teetering height as a trademark that took shape from early on.
“Those poor girls couldn’t walk properly, but people loved it,” the designer recalled of his early models. “Sir Cecil Beaton said to me, ‘Is this a new way of walking?’” To take it from pop culture, it indeed might have been: People are still talking about the night that Bianca Jagger dazzled, horseback, at Studio 54 in a Halston dress and Blahnik shoes on her 30th birthday, and, decades later, the footwear icon was rendered a household name during the long-running television series Sex and the City.
Today, Manolo Blahnik remains a virtual synonym for luxury shoes. Find a range of his footwear and handbags on 1stDibs.
- 1950s Royal Blue Patent Leather Stiletto HeelsLocated in San Francisco, CA1950s royal blue patent leather stiletto heels with sling back strap and side cut-out details. The sole is a custom made genuine leather soles.Category
1950s Shoes
$119 Sale Price20% Off - New Oscar De La Renta Runway F/W 2017 Blue Calf Hair Over the Knee Boots 38 US 8By Oscar De La RentaLocated in Montgomery, TXNew Oscar De La Renta Blue Over the Knee Boots F/W 2017 Runway Collection Designer size 38 - US 8 Calf Hair, Lace-Up Adjustable Top with Leath...Category
2010s Italian Boots
$1,596 Sale Price36% Off - New Gianni Versace F/W 1999 Vintage Pony Hair Turquoise Snakeskin Shoes 39By Gianni VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVintage New Gianni Versace Pony Hair Turquoise Snakeskin Shoes Sandals Designer size 39 Leather Lining, Leather Sole. New with original box and dust ba...Category
1990s Italian High Heels
- Philipp Plein Shoe Blue Suede Diamante Skull 39.5 / 9.5 NewLocated in Miami, FLMightychoPc offers a Philipp Plein blue suede ballet flat with a smoking slipper cut. Fabulous signature skull in clear and blue diamantes. Neutral and wearable - great style! fina...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Shoes
- Hermes Blue Velvet Oran Sandal Box Calfskin Leather Flat Shoes 38.5 / 8.5 New w/By HermèsLocated in Miami, FLMightychic offers Hermes Oran flat sandals featured in Bleu Velvet. This stunning box calfskin leather Hermes Oran slide sandal is in a richly satur...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Sandals
- Hermes Emerald Oran Sandal Epsom Leather Flat Shoes 37 / 7 New w/ BoxBy HermèsLocated in Miami, FLMightychic offers limited edition Hermes Oran Emerald sandals. This stunning limited edition Hermes Oran flat slide sandal is featured in Epsom leather. T...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Sandals