An in-depth portrait of master shoe designer Manolo Blahnik and a behind-the-scenes look into the world of the fashion icon.
As Fashion Month continues in Milan, a documentary about Manolo Blahnik is debuting in theaters around the world. The timing is, well, quite ironic, since Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards directed by his close friend Michael Roberts, reveals the shoe man to be the antithesis of tongue-in-cheek. The Canary Island-born, London-bred Blahnik is a bonafide personality, one who takes relish in just about everything. In this in depth look into his world, the documentary manages to cover topics as diverse as Florence Pugh in Lady Macbeth to Rihanna’s Work to his beloved dogs.
As a young boy in the Canary Islands, Blahnik made a hobby of outfitting the lizards in his parents’ garden with tin foil shoes. As he grew older, the extremities of Greek and Roman statues became of particular interest, but it wasn’t until Diana Vreeland told him in the early 70s to design shoes that he directed his attention fully to footwear.
Sex and the City, of course, gave Blahnik a major boost, and the Hangisi shoe Carrie Bradshaw wears in the film for her wedding has become a mainstay of Blahnik’s business.
With a documentary, a traveling show that debuted at St. Petersburg’s Hermitage, and another exhibit planned for 2020, you might think Blahnik would want to take it easy. I love to do what I do. Are you kidding?” he says. “I challenge myself: This is not good enough. I have to do better. This is what keeps me going, its my nature. And people have really asked me a million times, Why dont you do glasses and things and hats, and blah blah. Are you out of your mind? I dont want to do that at all. No. I do shoes, and I do the best I can.
Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards is in select theaters now.