When it comes to shoes, the opening line of Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata, “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence”, captures the essence of Manolo Blahnik, whose footwear is a quiet comfort in the current scream of look-at-me designs and lookmore-at-me proportions.
Over the designer’s 45-year career, including his works for Vetements and Rihanna, a pair of Blahniks has always been beautiful, not trend-led, gaudy or trite.
His nearly five-decade-long oeuvre is a journey of originality and delight – something that’s not lost on the fashion and art worlds. Some 212 shoes are displayed in Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes, an exhibition which has toured four cities (Milan, St Petersburg, Madrid and Prague) and is now at its last stop, the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, until Jan 9, 2019.
And for his old and new devotees, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands has just reopened Blahnik’s first Singapore flagship. – RT
Clockwise from top left: Zorok canvas backless pumps, $1,690. Hangisi gingham pumps, $1,890. Mbole leather sandals, $1,890. Gabon suede sandals, $1,790.
