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PROFILE

Born in 1942 in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands, Manolo Blahnik grew up on a banana plantation owned by his Czech father and Spanish mother. He studied Architecture and then Literature at the University of Geneva and he went to Paris in 1965 to continue his education at the School of the Louvre and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1968, he settled in London, where he combined his work at a boutique with writing articles for Vogue Italia.

In 1971, Blahnik visited New York, taking with him an extensive portfolio of drawings. Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue USA, was so taken with them, she suggested he went into footwear design. In 1972, now back in London, Blahnik designed and produced footwear for Zapata, a boutique in Chelsea. Fashion designer Ossie Clark then asked him to make the footwear for her catwalk collection and one year later Blahnik bought the Zapata boutique. The renowned publication Women’s Wear Daily described him as one of London’s most exotic souls, the creator of startling innovative footwear.

In 1974, the artist and master shoe-designer posed with Angelica Huston for Vogue UK, becoming the first man to appear on the magazine’s front cover. In 1978, he launched a collection for Bloomingdales, a major American retail chain, and a year later opened his first US boutique on New York’s Madison Avenue. In 1982, he teamed up with George Malkemus, a young publicist in Bergdorf Goodman’s marketing department, who became his US partner.

Since then, Manolo Blahnik has become a footwear institution in his own right. He has worked with many top designers, creating footwear for the collections of Perry Ellis (1980), Calvin Klein (1984), Isaac Mizrahi (1988), John Galliano (1992), Bill Blass, Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta (1994), Christian Dior (couture collection, 1997) and Zac Posen (2001).

Manolo Blahnik has achieved some of the fashion world’s highest accolades, including the Special Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the Balenciaga and the Nieman Marcus Award. He received an honorary doctorate from London’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts and won Spain’s La Aguja de Oro (Golden Needle). He was made Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in London and has received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts from King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

By the year 2000, the huge success of Sex and the City had made Manolo Blahnik a household name in the States. In 2003, he became the first footwear designer to have his work displayed at London’s Design Museum.

Blahnik’s collections have always shown a taste for luxury: brocaded ankle boots, twisting-turning sandals with gold heels, embroidered crystals and dance shoes crowned with diamond brooches are some of his inimitable touches. His far-sightedness and meticulous attention to detail have turned him into the master designer he is today.

Now, thousands of women around the world, including a host of celebrities and aristocrats, are his most fervent admirers. His famous slipper has been endlessly copied and is the last word in shoes with a heel.