The Manolo FIles - part 2

Manolo Blahnik is a shoe god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL8U_lLdgTc&feature=fvst

A visit to Shoe Mecca – Manolo Blahnik

See inside the Blanik Las Vegas store and start drooling....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGjCel3mDLQ

Coco Chanel - fashion legend

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. Her extraordinary influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME magazines 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

Chanel was born in 1883 on the 19th of August. She was the second daughter of traveling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle. There was a misspelling on her birth certificate that recorded her last name as "Chasnel," making the tracing of her roots almost impossible for biographers when Chanel later rose to prominence. Coco was born in a poorhouse. Her birth was recorded the following day. Two employees of the hospice went to city hall and declared the child of feminine gender. The hospice employees were illiterate, so when the mayor François Poitu wrote down the birth, no one knew how to spell Chanel so the mayor improvised and recorded it with an "s," making it Chasnel. Her parents married in 1883. She had five siblings: two sisters, and three brothers. In 1895, when she was 12 years old, Chanel's mother died of tuberculosis and her father left the family a short time later because he needed to work to raise his children. Because of his work, the young Chanel spent seven years in the orphanage of the Roman Catholic monastery of Aubazine, where she learned the trade of a seamstress. School vacations were spent with relatives in the provincial capital, where female relatives taught Coco to sew with more flourish than the nuns at the monastery were able to demonstrate. When Coco turned eighteen, she left the orphanage, and took up work for a local tailor.

While working at a tailoring shop she met and soon began an affair with the French playboy and millionaire Etienne Balsan who lavished her with the beauties of "the rich life," diamonds, dresses and pearls. While living with Balsan, Chanel began designing hats as a hobby, which soon became a deeper interest of hers. After opening her eyes, as she would say, Coco left Balsan and took over his apartment in Paris. In 1913, she opened up her very first shop which sold a range of fashionable raincoats and jackets. Situated in the heart of Paris it wasn't long before the shop went out of business and Chanel was asked to surrender her properties. This did not discourage Chanel; it only made her more determined. During the pre-war era, Chanel met up with an estranged and former best friend of Étienne Balsan . With his assistance, Chanel was able to acquire the property and financial backing to open her second millinery shop in Brittany. Her hats were worn by celebrated French actresses, which helped to establish her reputation. In 1913, Chanel introduced women’s sportswear at her new boutique in Deauville, in the Rue Gounaut-Biron; Marthe, Countess de Gounaut-Biron (daughter of American diplomat, John George Alexander Leishman, was Chanel's first aristocratic client. Her third shop and successor to her biggest store in France was located in Deauville, where more women during the World War I era came to accept her view that women were supposed to dress for themselves and not their men.

Later in life, she concocted an elaborate false history for her humble beginnings. Chanel would steadfastly claim that when her mother died, her father sailed for America to get rich and she was sent to live with two cold-hearted spinster aunts. She even claimed to have been born in 1893 as opposed to 1883, and that her mother had died when Coco was two instead of twelve. All this was done to diminish the stigma that poverty, orphanhood, and illegitimacy bestowed upon unfortunates in nineteenth-century France.

In 1920, she was introduced by ballet empresario Sergei Diaghilev to world famous composer Igor Stravinsky, to whom she extended an offer for him and his family to reside with her. During this temporary sojourn it was rumoured that they had an affair.

The Chanel empire
In 1923, Coco Chanel said to Harpers Bazaar that "Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance." Coco Chanel always kept the clothing she designed simple, comfortable and revealing. Unlike most designers in that Europe, she kept the woman inside the clothes at the center of her creations. "I gave women a sense of freedom; I gave them back their bodies: bodies that were drenched in sweat, due to fashion's finery, lace, corsets, underclothes, padding." She took what were considered poor fabrics like jersey and upgraded them. Chanel's style is popularly associated with the image of the 1920s flapper, a "new breed" of self-confident young women that challenged the established concept of socially acceptable behavior. The flappers demonstrated their independence through new looks and attitude, such as short skirts and haircuts, openly using cosmetics, and being seen to smoke and drink cocktails. Compared to previous generations of women the flappers also showed an increased level of activity, pursuing athletic sports, driving their own automobiles, and going out to nightclubs where they could listen to jazz music and do energetic dances such as the Charleston.

The iconic Chanel jacket is in many ways a microcosm of this design philosophy. A Chanel couture jacket has numerous design and construction details that distinguish it from a tailored jacket as traditionally constructed. For example, these jackets lack the complex inner structure of interfacings, pad stitching, and facings commonly used in bespoke tailoring. Rather, the silk lining is machine quilted directly to the fashion fabric, the long exterior seams of the fashion fabric are machine sewn, then the shoulder fashion fabric seams are machine sewn. The interior lining seams and the outside edges of the lining are turned under and hand stitched to the edge of the jacket. The three piece sleeve (another distinctive Chanel feature) is constructed in a similar manner, then hand sewn to the body of the jacket. The heavy trims, cast metal buttons and the curbed chain sewn to the hem have a functional purpose by adding weight to a garment that is really nothing more than fashion fabric and lining. The end result is a supremely comfortable garment, more like a sweater than a traditional jacket. Most of her fashions had a staying power, and didn't change much from year to year—or even generation to generation. Karl Lagerfield has been, since 1983, the art director of Chanel, both for the haute couture and pret a porter.

Chanel came out with her first signature fragrance, Chanel No 5, in 1921. The perfume was the first to have a designer's name attached to it, and it has enjoyed tremendous success since its introduction. In this way, Chanel set the standard for successive designers to do the same.

Later years
In 1925, Vera Bate Lombardi, reputedly the illegitimate daughter of Adolphus Cambridge and Duke of Teck became Chanel's muse and public relations liaison to a number of European royal families. Lombardi had the highest connections possible to build the House of Chanel. Chanel established the English look based upon Lombardi's persona and Lombardi introduced Chanel to her uncle the Duke of Westminster, her cousin the Duke of Windsor, and many other aristocratic families for Chanel's creative, romantic, financial, social and political rise to power.
In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, the designer closed her shops. She believed that it was not a time for fashion. She took up residence in the Hotel Ritz Paris and for more than 30 years, Chanel made this hotel her home, even during the Nazi occupation of Paris. During that time she was criticized for having an affair with Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a German officer and Nazi spy who arranged for her to remain in the hotel.[ She also maintained an apartment above her couture house at 31, rue Cambon and built Villa La Pausa in Roquebrune on the French Riviera.

In 1943 after 4 years of professional separation, Chanel sought collaboration with Lombardi in Rome to access Lombardi's relative Sir Winston Churchill under the guise of requesting Lombardi return to work for the House of Chanel in Paris. When Vera refused to comply with Chanel's request to come to Paris, she was arrested as an English spy and thrown into a Roman prison by the Gestapo. The true motives of Chanel's invitation to Lombardi, was that Chanel wanted Lombardi to contact Churchill in order for him to see Chanel. Chanel was later arrested for war crimes, but prevented from being taken to trial through the British Royal family's intervention.

In 1945, she moved to Switzerland, eventually returning to Paris in 1954, the year she also returned to the fashion world. Her new collection did not have much success with the Parisians because of her relationship with the Nazi spy; however, it was much applauded by the Americans, who were to become her most loyal customers.

Death
Coco Chanel died of a heart attack in Paris on 10 January 1971, aged 87, in her private suite at the Hôtel Ritz, and she was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her tombstone is carved with stone lion heads representing her birth sign, Leo.

A chat with Giuseppe Zanotti

On Thursday, April 30th the visionary shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti made an in-store appearance at the famous Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Avenue in New York City. He was there in honor of his Spring 2009 collection, and the lucky women (and men) who purchased his shoes were invited to have their soles signed and take a Polaroid picture with the designer which was then topped off with a personalized message and decoration by Giuseppe himself. The compliments and fans surrounding the designer were plentiful and Giuseppe eagerly and happily shook hands and exchanged greetings with each and every person. He was unrelentingly gracious and, while I had been warned that there was a language barrier, his grasp of the English language was impressive and the obstacles for him to express himself were few.

So, what did Giuseppe have to say about his Spring collection? For one, he was inspired by many things, but the line's color palette, unique embellishments and details are "A tribute to Africa…[a celebration of] the arts from Africa, the painters, the music…Africa is our base." He referenced the shades of brown he's used, the silver ornaments and the zebra prints as all being inspired by Africa but with a sense of "the new world" incorporated into them as well.

Giuseppe mentioned that he pulls much of his inspiration for each collection from what he called his library of women's shoes, but in reality sounds more like something I (and I would imagine most women) would refer to as a museum as well as a dream come true. This "library" consists of 7,500 plus pairs and holds styles dating back to the 18th century. The other large influence on Giuseppe's shoes? His passion for music. "I put my culture and records into my shoes - they are the same thing."

For Fall of 2009, Giuseppe described what we can expect through an assortment of descriptive adjectives like "Rock & Roll and gothic; dark but positive! A focus on women's beauty and decadence…crazy, pure illusion! " He referenced the 90's film Interview with a Vampire to emphasize his vision of elegance mixed with a dark but seductive edge.

And for Spring 2010? He's planning to showcase what he described as "colors in the wrong", which he went on to explain as being combinations and mixes of colors that are very untraditional and unexpected. He also claimed it would have "a jump from classic to Pop Art."
So how is the recession treating a designer whose shoes often run in the thousand dollar range? "Women buy the best!" he said cheerily. "The sandals, [they are] still selling well…they represent Summer [and are] something new." One of the reasons he believes his designs are doing well is that his shoes complete the personalized and diversified look that Today's Woman is after. "In the 90's, women [were] slaves of the total look from magazine pages…now women choose for themselves…something from here, something there."

But perhaps even Giuseppe lovers are showing some affinity for practicality during these rough times. It's not those high, sculpted heels that are flying off the shelves…according to Giuseppe "Seventy percent more flats than heels are selling!"

What do Sarah Jessica Parker and the German national soccer team have in common?

What do Sarah Jessica Parker and the German national soccer team have in common? Their love of shoes, of course.

One thing the world has learned from "Sex and the City" is that shoes are much more than mere footwear. One doesn't simply wear one's shoes. One loves them. And one lives in them. Shoes are a world that fashionable men and women inhabit: a kind of portable apartment that children, pets and annoying relatives are not allowed to visit.

People who love their shoes live their life as if it were an expensive Caribbean vacation. That is why Sarah Jessica Parker alias Carrie Bradshaw always feels like she's walking not on air, but, much more literally, money.

Extensive research into the social structure of Ancient Rome has led some Classical scholars to reinterpret the old Latin proverb Omnia mea mecum porto. For centuries, this old saying was translated as "I carry all my possession with me." It implied that our intellect is our most precious possession.

New evidence, however, suggests two different ways of reading this ancient pearl of wisdom: "All that I have, I invest in my sandals" or "I wish I could carry all my sandals with me." In view of the newly discovered Roman obsession with shoes, stoicism is currently undergoing a radical reappraisal.

The newsest workout craze

If you're anything like me, you have a gym memebership which you barely use. You want the quick fix to staying in shape while being able to eat & drink whatever you want.... fairytale!! Well i dont have a solution to that problem but can give you an alternative solution to your workout woes. The latest craze in fitness in the US is the High Heel Workout. A workout specifically designed to make you more confident and stronger while strutting in your heels.

The NEW High Heel Fitness Workout and Instructional DVD teaches the foundation to walking in high heels, which admit it, many of us need a bit of help with, even though we all think we strut along the street like Supermodels. Watch and avoid the most common walking mistakes while decreasing the risk of injury and discomfort.

HIGH HEEL FITNESS WORKOUT & INSTRUCTIONAL DVD is the first high heel instructional and fitness workout proven to increase sexiness, confidence and grace in heels. The Legwork DVD teaches the advanced high heel fitness and training routines of top Broadway dancers and was created in collaboration with ballerinas, women’s shoe designers, fitness experts and podiatrists. Each instructor has over 12 years of professional dance training and experience in high heels. High heel fitness is the secret to sexy high heel walking and endurance!
High Heel Fitness Workout strengthens and tones legs and core, targeting specifically the upper and lower legs, abs, butt, the inner and outer thighs, calves, ankles and feet for stability, control and endurance in heels of all heights.

Have fun princess and walk like a supermodel!

Shoes that double as weapons

I have always believed that my trusty stilettos can double as weapons. Get into trouble on a dark night and wham!, one kick with your pointy toed stiletto's and your attacker goes down. But these pumps take that theory to a whole new level. You literally have weapons on your feet. Put your best stiletto forward with 'killer heels'.