Original subtitles

-Are you on? Are we on? -[man] Yeah.

Don’t tell me. All this nonsense? Oh, God. Okay.

Okay, let’s... Now there’s gonna be... [exhales]

[man’s voice] Where is the director? I mean, that man is a disaster.

[man 2] Tiny secret smiles.

Like what?

I don’t remember. I don’t have secrets anymore.

[man 1] This film is like Gone W/z‘h the l/l//'no’. Two years on the make.

I mean, honestly, this— this is mingy documentary.

Come here and direct.

I’m sick ofthis story, but its absolute the truth.

The truth is that, um,

| used to make shoes for lizards.

[projector whirring]

Barboles is like a big lizard with a blue thing here.

It was divine.

The lizard was much more easy to do

because they were just like somnolent.

I catch them. I catch everything.

And | used to do it with Cadbury’s chocolate bonbon.

And it was heaven.

This is what maybe the only connection that I had then and now.

I didn’t think about shoes again till much later.

[Manolo] l was very in love with feet.

I still love feet. Beautiful ones.

[woman] I can’t remember the last time I wore anybody else’s shoes.

| just didn’t even look at them.

[horn beeps]

Manolo Blahnik means, like, the happiest feet in the world.

[man] He’s a poet. Poet in couture. He’s a visionary poet.

He’s up there with Baudelaire.

[Manolo] I guess it was a fixation since I was a child.

[woman] Women dream about wearing your shoes. Really, it’s a thing.

I’ve been hearing that,

and I’ve been hearing the husbands all complaining

about new love for me and my shoes.

No one— No one— No one have done another shoe better than Manolo.

He’s the emperor of shoes, and forever will be.

He is the greatest shoemaker

ofthe 20th and 21st century.

There’s not much you can talk about shoes.

They’re made for walking.

[projector whirring]

My childhood was absolutely

the most extraordinary one,

simply because I lived in a place which is heaven.

|— For me.

[birds chirping]

We had the house, beautiful house.

Still falling to pieces but beautiful.

And very kind of cut off from the world in the ’50s.

And then I had the wonderful parents, especially my mother.

She did have this incredible mind and wandering mind.

And she did paint well.

Everything with her hands she did it beautifully.

She was very inventive, like me.

Well, she invented some kind of shoes

and she put through with pieces of chiffon

that she had from before, and it was incredible effect.

My father was fluent in every language.

Spanish even. Boom.

| wish I can speak other language like my father did.

A really incredible father.

Papa was Austro-Hungarian.

So imagine.

7:30, bath.

Nails. Get ready.

He would be very unhappy with my hair—

going now, going up.

l was not very quiet boy, no.

Never was. Never will be.

Yes, l was very demanding.

And my father had the illusions

that ifthis boy is gonna be domesticated or whatever,

we have to put him in a serious environment.

So when l was 14, they send us to a school in Geneva.

| always been interested in clothes.

All my money, my pocket money, went into magazines.

Queen.

l/ogue.

American l/ogue.

American Bazaar

It was so exciting.

Pictures of Bailey with Jean Shrimpton, with hands like this.

And was wonderful.

And in summertime,

my mother and father wanted me to work at the United Nations.

But I didn’t like it. l was bored to tears.

lam now 21 or 22.

I want to go. I want to do things.

One moment I wanted to be a decorator. What a horror.

But anyway, so I decided to go to Paris.

[music playing]

[woman singing in French]

The first time that I really got into a conversation with him was in Paris.

He was so always— you know, so dressed up and a monsieur,

whereas I was a girl at the time still.

But I was, you know— I think there was mutual fascination right away.

[Manolo] | end up working with two women in an antique business.

And I loved it because I learn a lot.

| always learn things everywhere I go.

Paloma used to come down. “Do you work here? Are you mad?”

She used to be there all the time. We’re having tea all the time and cookies.

Manolo had the strangest of diet.

Dried bananas, avocados

and then also this strange liqueur called advocaat

which was made of egg yolks,

and very sugary.

[no audible dialogue]

[news reporter] “/n June, you W/7/ o’ec/o’e by your votes.

/f you say ‘yes, ’ / W/7/ change those th/ngs

Wh/ch are narrow and outdated. ”

Pres/dent De Gau//e announced h/s proposed referendum.

No sooner had he spoken, then a fresh Wa ve of anarchy tore Par/s apa/t.

[Picasso] 1968, you know, revolution, upheaval and demonstration,

which I took some part in.

I had this huge purple hat,

and l was really overdressed for a demonstration.

[news reporter] Tougher feta/Iat/on by not po//ce

hasn ’t exact/y coo/ed the s/tuat/on.

[Picasso] Police was running after me.

I had to take shelter inside the Coupole.

And those mean policemen throwing tear gas bomb inside the Coupole.

Everybody was crying.

[news reporter] The Warn/ng that France /s on the bunk ofpara/ys/s.

But I don’t think Manolo ever went to any of those.

On the contrary, he would kind of lock himself into his shop

l was even looking at it, I mean, like a sort of entertainment.

Can you imagine how awful to say that? But it’s the truth.

I didn’t have any— I still don’t.

I mean, any political beliefs.

I never liked violence or marches.

I can’t stand crowds.

I can’t stand smells of people. I don’t like it.

I never like too much people, no.

[chiming]

In 71, I came to London because I knew that I really loved London.

London was...

the wonderful.

This is where you wanted to be. This was where it was happening.

It was bubbling. It was lots ofthings that we wanted to discover.

It was also such a democratic time, you know.

Hairdressers were sitting down with duchesses for the first time.

I mean, all the rules were being broken.

[Manolo] It was something that I never had— I never sort of felt before.

This kind of incredible freedom

ofthe people, the mind and everything.

But it seems to me that a good time is—

is much easier had by all now than ever before.

[man] I When / d/e and they /ay me to rest I

J‘ Gonna go to the p/ace that’s the best I

I When //ayme down to d/e J‘

J‘ Go/n’up to the spirit In the s/g/ J‘

For the first time in the history of fashion,

fashion was emerging from another city that wasn’t Paris.

And then you had Mary Quant and you had Biba

and you had all those marvelous desi—

And Ossie, of course. Ossie Clark.

[Wintour] The brilliance of England’s creativity—

and it’s why they’re so fearless—

is that they start with the talent

rather than thinking about “Oh, is it gonna make money?”

Which tends to be a little bit more the way things happen in the United States.

All eyes were on London at that time,

and it must have been such an exciting and amazing time to be here.

[Roberts] Where were you?

l was in school, Michael.

Yeah, I’m still in school, but wanting to be part of it.

[both laughing]

Dying to be part of it, yeah.

It was at Feathers that Manolo discovered me

and I discovered Manolo.

Mrs. Burstein was important because she gave me the green card.

At the time you needed to have a green card.

And she said to me, “You speak French, Italian, Spanish, everything,

so get on.”

[Burstein] Manolo just came in and wanted a job.

The personality’s always been there.

The desire has always been there.

And how can you resist any of that?

But you know what?

I met a wonderful woman there called Andrea Crittle.

And we worked very well. We did send things to the press.

And she had her little area downstairs where Manolo was.

He could have been a wonderful PR as well

’cause he would talk to everybody.

I don’t think I ever saw him upstairs selling.

I think he was so busy downstairs chatting.

[chuckles]

This is where I learned my trade.

He kept saying to me— [sighs]

“Mrs. Sidney, Mrs. Sidney, I must bring my portfolio.

I must show you. I must show you my drawings.”

“Manolo, I’d love to see your drawings.

Do bring them in.”

Do you think I ever saw those drawings?

I never even knew that he drew shoes.

One time I went to New York with Manolo

and I met Diana Vreeland to do some photographs for Vogue.

Of course wanted Manolo to meet her too.

When people talk about you, what do you hope they say?

Was that a rude question? [laughs]

No, | just hope they say that, “Isn’t she beautiful?

Isn’t she wonderful? Isn’t she the most wonderful?

-|sn’t she wonderful?” -[laughs]

Does any woman want anything else said about her?

[female reporter] She d/scovered a// those mode/s.

Remember TIA/Iggy?

l/erusch/(a .7

Pene/ope Tree?

She genuinely liked young people.

Genuinely adored young people.

She was very clever at being able to figure out

what people were meant to be, I think.

l arranged for Mrs. Vreeland to meet Manolo in the museum.

He came into her office down in the basement.

Very small, red. Hell red, the walls.

Manolo was a big event, meeting Mrs. Vreeland.

Oh, we were, you know, dressing, nervous, running, screaming,

screeching, parrots calling,

howler monkeys going down to the museum.

And he gets in her office and he’s mute.

[no audible dialogue]

He is mute. I said, “My God, Manolo, what up?

Speak, speak, speak. What up?”

Is this really— He’s mute. He is humble. He is so mute.

He— He’s petrified.

He’s like he’s seen a— a vision.

[Manolo] Museum really could have been a disaster.

It was a disaster, in fact, because I was terrified.

l was, like, speechless.

It was a very important figure.

[Talley] She had to do all the talking. She met him and she adored him.

She adored him.

“How come you couldn’t talk?” “Andre, it was Mrs. Vreeland.

l was just absolutely petrified and mesmerized by her vision,

what she looked like and everything.”

She said, “He showed me his portfolio.”

And I said, “Two shoes.”

That was, you know, a key moment for Manolo,

that she really said, you know, “Concentrate on the shoes.”

And it was such a right move.

[Talley] And from there becomes Manolo Blahnik.

[singers vocalizing]

[vocalizing continues]

[vocalizing ends]

I started to meet people—

Chelita, Ossie.

All these people that they were doing things.

Wonderful Chelita Secunda,

which she was like assistant to Ossie Clark,

asked me to do this collection

that could have been the end of my career totally.

I didn’t know much about shoes anyway.

So I did kind ofthought, “Ah, how wonderful.”

Rubber soles.

Heels of like— Big heels in rubber.

And | forgot to put inside steel.

And it was like... the girls are falling off.

People thought it was like a new way of walking.

And all these people were there clapping.

And it was a disaster for me. Anyway, you couldn’t walk.

[Picasso] Wearing his first shoes,

which were extremely uncomfortable, but extremely beautiful.

There’s a French saying, “You have to suffer to be beautiful.”

And so I thought I should abide by this absolutely.

So whatever it took...

l was ready to go for it.

So Manolo shoes— I walked for miles with Manolo shoes,

and they were excruciating, but I felt so great.

[man] J‘ Or do What you want I

I Just runn/ng W/70' J‘

l was thinking about how wonderful it used to be

in Cheyne Walk.

And all those people live there.

Oh, my God. Everybody was there. My God, Bianca and Marianne Faithfull.

ln Portman Square. Everything. Chelsea was like a village, you see.

[man] B/anca re/ect/ng bott/e alter bott/e ofpe/fect/y good Chateau W/ne.

Madame ’s been ve/y d/fi‘I'cu/t today

[Talley] You spent the day talking to Bianca,

but most ofthe time she was busy combing her hair

or just procrastinating over her clothes or her shoes.

[Manolo] She was divine though. You can wait for her because she was like a...

she had this incredible magnetism.

[Talley] He would go to her house in Cheyne Walk.

And she was part ofthat scene.

He was part ofthat decorative, glamorous, English, London scene.

[Manolo] l was so young. Twenty-three or 24.

So long ago.

[laughs]

l have a big poppy in my hair.

I didn’t have one white hair. This is tremendous.

This is like one ofthose nights— We did have wonderful times.

Oh, she was beautiful.

Ahh, the Queen Christina was a failure.

Look at that.

Oh, Jade.

As a nanny, l was divine.

No, lwasn’t. I look like a sort of Romanian hustler.

Ah, yeah, a kaftan that I got in Tang— No, in Fez.

Ooh, this is two oranges and a flower and a bump out.

l was a little bit down here, or oranges were down.

You know, I never liked very much.

After that period, I never dressed up or things like that.

Isn’t it funny? Very old-fashioned now.

But I did have a wonderful time when l was young.

I’m gonna do one ofthose kind of shoes

that they wear in the Court of Cyrus,

with things going up the leg.

[man] The great joy

was sitting in his study whilst he drew shoes.

He’d get a piece of paper and he’d start telling a story.

Coral here. Emerald.

I’m gonna do a beautiful shoe. Emerald.

And this one, something else.

Ooh, I love that one.

It’s not gonna be very commercial.

[Talley] Manolo, his drawings—

When you see the energy he puts in the line in a drawing for a shoe,

it’s masterful.

The energy from the hand to the drawing to the splash of color,

it’s just extraordinary.

I’ve seen that very rarely in designers.

Maybe Yves Saint Laurent.

lt’s gonna be in titanium or maybe—

No, steel. But aluminum will... break.

[Roberts] So everything comes out of your head?

More or less, yes.

Yes.

And it’s a lot of stuff, I presume.

-Yes. Yes. -lt’s a lot of stuff.

But I never have problems about having a lot of stuff.

-Block. -I like— A block? I’ve never had a block.

Now, that one thing sounds presumptuous and pompous, but I never had blocks.

I don’t know what it is.

This is medallions or could be floral like that.

But it’s not floral. It’s jewels.

Sometimes I’m really happy that | create this by myself

because in my time there was nobody doing designer shoes like this.

It’s not— It’s not profitable.

[man] All fashion was about escapism and fantasy.

Pure escapism.

This is why I think he created this environment

for people to shop in

because it took you into another world.

[man] I met Manolo in the shop.

l was friends with Bianca Jagger at the time.

l was her new friend.

I lived in her pocket.

At a certain point,

I bought a pair of Manolo shoes.

Zebra skin pumps.

His men’s shoes, well, they’re just kind of slightly more feminine versions

of the women’s shoes.

[laughing]

I’ve still got them upstairs at home. I’ve never worn them.

[Wintour] When I moved back to London,

I had just had my first child, and he was tiny.

And l was alone in London and really didn’t know many people.

And | used to go on Saturday mornings to the shop, with Charlie,

who was crawling around,

just to see Manolo,

because he was so enchanting and welcoming and lovely

and didn’t mind that Charlie knocked over all the shoe displays.

And he was always there. I mean, he was never not in the shop.

It just sort of made you feel loved.

[Tree] I remember going into Manolo’s shop for the first time

and trying on a pair of shoes.

A little bit like the ugly sister trying to get into the glass slipper.

’Cause Manolo went, “Ohh, ohh!

Your feet, they’re like peasants’ feet.”

[laughing]

[Prieto] I decided I was going to buy my first pair of Manolo’s in 1980.

I bought them in the shop.

l was obviously very into Manolo Blahnik shoes before then.

They asked me if I’d like to come and work here.

So, of course, I would jump at the chance of coming to work here.

And it’s my idea of heaven working here,

being around all these shoes that I love so much.

There was like a little part of me that said, “Well, perhaps he’s a poseur.”

You know?

But then I realized that everything that he did

was to do with expressing himself.

It was really only from his interest and passion,

you know, that he dressed like that.

He didn’t look like anybody else at the time

because it was the time of hippies,

and it was the time of people just wearing very relaxed clothes.

And there he was,

like a creature from a completely different century.

Manolo would fit into any century

from the 15th up to the beginning ofthe 19th.

He constantly references // Gattopardo in Sicily.

He knows about the Sicilian nobles.

He knows about the clothes.

[Tree] It’s very rare to see a younger person

dressing as a 17th century Sicilian gentleman.

And he’s a vision in his beautiful suits.

How does he get those tailors to make those wonderful colors?

The perfection,

you know, absolutely well-tailored clothes,

hair that’s always pulled back.

He was very chic.

This sort of elegant, sort of a bit like Tom Ford.

That kind of elegance.

[Talley] First man on the cover of British l/ogue.

This is a testament to his style.

And that was the moment that Manolo—

Actually, he was rather sexy.

I mean, he was a very sexy young man.

When we did that shoot, I wanted to use Manolo as a—

as a sort of model, which he wasn’t too keen about.

[woman] Bailey introduced us.

And Bailey was just crazy about Manolo.

He said, “You’re gonna love him.”

And Manolo came in. He was very light in his loafers.

[camera shutter clicks]

He practically danced into the studio.

And he had that very high-pitched voice.

Then we end up on a trip to the Mediterranean and Corsica.

And we become friends.

[Bailey] We land in Corsica, and there was some demonstrations going off.

So there was lots of shooting and banging and...

So it started off good. I thought, “This is gonna be a good trip.”

[Huston] And there were things that he absolutely hated doing.

[Bailey] He was so difficult I can’t tell you.

He was— He was appalling.

[Huston] Getting buried in the sand.

I remember a huge tantrum around that.

“I won’t be buried in the sand unless you bury yourself in the sand.”

So I have to be buried up to my head in the sand so that Manolo would do it.

[Huston] He was squawking like a parrot, saying, “Let me out! Let me out!”

[laughing]

[Manolo] No, I’m not— I’m not a very easy person.

What do you mean, fussy? l’m difficult. Yes.

When I don’t like something, I just give hell.

[Bailey] And halfway through, I was thinking, “Mmm,

maybe I made a mistake.

Maybe I should have got James Dean or somebody easy.”

[laughs]

He was a nightmare.

[Manolo] The ’70s were like a nonstop fun.

The ’80s are nonstop work, and then even more work.

[crowd cheering]

[male news reporter] Though st/7/ a commoner,

the pretty Eng//sh g/r/ W/7/ be transformed

Into the third /ady of the rea/m, Pr/ncess of Wa/es.

[Prieto] Princess Diana came here to buy herself a Christmas present.

She was a flat shoe and low-heeled lady.

’Cause she was so tall, it suited her look.

But she turned up at the Serpentine, looking absolutely amazing and stunning,

and blew everyone’s breath away wearing a pair of Manolo heels.

That’s when we slowly start to become like a household name.

[chattering]

[applause]

[man] The ’80s was about excess.

And Manolo’s part ofthe great ’80s in America.

[siren blaring]

l was responsible for Manolo making the decision

to go into business with people in America.

He didn’t have a clue.

New York was really exciting. It was incredible.

We started the shop in ’83, and then it really took off.

And that’s how it was. It was this shop and the New York shop.

And really, that was the empire then.

It was introduction to another kind of culture,

another kind of way ofthinking

and a way oftrying to please the buyer.

[man] When you walk down the street in New York City

and you see the women sort of, like, flash their hips a certain way,

there’s the longevity to that sort of sexiness and style in America.

And | thinkthat Manolo and what he does in his shoes

have always been very true to those themes.

And there was a time in the mid-’80s

when there wasn’t a designer on Seventh Avenue

that didn’t have Manolo Blahnik shoes on the runway.

It was a great time in the expansion of what we did in America.

And then suddenly I think that American l/ogue decided at a certain point,

“Why don’t you go to Manolo.”

When Anna was helping designers, she would say, “You need shoes,”

and then they would go to Manolo, of course.

[Prieto] We collaborated with a hell of a lot of designers in New York.

Geoffrey Beene. We’re doing Bill Blass. We’re doing Oscar de la Renta.

[Talley] Then there was this long, long relationship with Calvin Klein.

Calvin is totally American,

and he gave to people what they want.

I did ballerina shoes, and he was incredible.

[female announcer] Th/s season, New York’s /saac M/zrah/

o/fers a cockta/Y of sty/e.

I remember the best of collaborations with Isaac Mizrahi.

The pilgrim buckle.

Yes, that pilgrim mule.

l was gonna kind oftry to glamour it up as much as possible.

And I gave him that buckle and I said,

“I would like you to make something with this buckle

to kind of say at once ‘pilgrim’ and “sexy pilgrim.’”

Right?

And that’s what he came up with.

Manolo Blahnik shoes, as fearlessly sexy as they are,

they’re madly comfortable to a lot of women,

my mother included.

Even if it’s that high a heel, it’s still comfortable.

I don’t know how he does it.

I’m sure of all the collaborations

that Manolo’s worked with over the years,

probably John would be the closest to him

in terms of his spirit and his romanticism

and his fantasy

and his sort of... other worldliness in a way.

-[screams] -[laughter]

I’ve no idea. Did you hear what I was saying?

No. ljust walked in.

[Manolo] I say talent has no barriers.

-You look great. -So do you.

-Are you kidding? -Magn/'f/'que.

-Magn/'f/'que. Tu par/es/ -But I’m interrupting.

-You carry on. -No, you just— you just made it.

-Am I saving you? -You just maybe saved my life.

When...

John, um—

John lost everything.

And I think it was Andre

that introduced him to an American banker,

which then led to that amazing show in the Schlumberger.

We’d gone over to Paris thinking where can we have the show.

Mona Bismarck lnstitute.

All over the African... No, no, no, no.

And so then I said, “Well, we can ask Madame Schlumberger.”

We were just sitting on eggshells waiting for her to say “no,”

and she said, “But of course.

I’ll just have to have a little face-lift for the show.”

Everything was donated. Everything was donated.

The jewelers of Paris. Every supermodel modeled for nothing.

Kate Moss. Naomi.

Nadja Auermann. All ofthem.

And then, of course, there was Manolo with the shoes.

And this was the moment of John Galliano’s big, big moment.

It was a pivotal moment in fashion.

[Wintour] It was just so magical and emotional

and unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

It is one ofthe most exciting things I’ve seen in my life

in that beautiful 18th century house.

[Wintour] And John really changed fashion with that show.

[Manolo] It was extraordinary.

A very limited amount of dresses, but beautiful.

It was the buzz. It was the buzz. It was the buzz.

And always Manolo Blahnik. Always Manolo Blahnik.

Always Manolo Blahnik.

You just gasped at the genius of it.

It will always be my favorite fashion show of all time.

[applause]

-[Manolo] Ohh! -[Galliano] Agatha.

-Agatha. -Agatha!

This gave the attitude.

-Agatha. -That was Agatha.

-And you remember that one? -She— You could wear that now.

-You can wear one now. -Some girls do.

These were worn in the Sao Schlumberger shows as well.

And you maybe didn’t approve.

But with the seamed stockings and the heels colored in too.

-Darker. _|_

Probably not correct, but it gave a certain kind of...

-Different. slutty look.

Yes.

You know that | tell the truth all the time.

It is one of my favorite shoes of all time.

-The one... Oh. -[laughing]

-Lo|a. -[gasps] Lola Flores!

No. Lola?

Sl'.

[both singing in Spanish]

-[laughing] -[singing stops]

Of course I’d heard of Manolo the legend,

-but I was just a runt out of school. -And then I met you.

I wouldn’t dare to come and meet such a legend as you. Stop.

-Go on then. -And then I remember being in this shop,

hearing clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.

And lo and behold, Manolo appeared.

And l was quite— I mean, I am quite a shy person anyway.

-Which you are. -And | froze.

Are you kidding? I froze too.

I’d heard so much ring, flash.

Pictures of you in Italian l/ogue with Anjelica Huston and—

{gasps} -[Roberts] Oh, my God.

-My God, this is a long time ago. -Gorgeous. Glamour.

This is about glamour, but it’s a long time ago.

Tres, tres long time ago.

The smell of violets on your breath.

-And Fleurs d’Oranger. -Fleurs d’Oranger.

But never that would overtake. That’s the elegance of Manolo.

You could imagine the Flowers of d’Oranger, yes.

-You see how it is? -Seville.

You look amazing. You always look amazing.

Do | shine?

He may not recognize this, but he has become a legend.

I mean, he is Manolo Blahnik.

And I’m not sure that he’s comfortable with that idea.

[man whistling, shouting]

[music continues]

[woman] Manolo!

[woman] Manolo!

[Malkemus] It was sometimes frightening to Manolo.

We’d go to an event and everybody would have his shoes.

[Manolo] At the beginning it was like a surprise.

To see all this hullabaloo for myself, I mean, I felt strange.

I’m not an actor, a pop star or whatever it is.

But you have to perform. You have to sell what you have.

And what I do— what I have is shoes, so I have to sell it.

Madness of these women.

“When are you going to do it in another color? In another color.”

I say, “We will. We will.”

In a cross between Cinderella and a white rabbit,

because Cinderella got the shoes that fitted

and Manolo’s never stopped running like the white rabbit.

Yeah, he’s got lots of rabbit.

He even looks like a rabbit when he runs.

[chattering]

Somehow because of the world,

particularly the world that we live in today,

myths are created around people the way they have been around Manolo.

And I think he doesn’t really know how to deal with it.

Never took seriously this thing.

I never had a kind of perception what fame or whatever or known is.

I can totally understand if he’s conflicted by fame,

but he has to remember who his friends are, who his real people are.

[Manolo] And, yes, its fabulous for business.

I promise in my whole life | only wear Manolo.

Thank you. God bless you.

My factories will be happy.

[Prieto] Fashion became really schizophrenic in the ’90s.

One minute it’s one thing, the next minute it’s something else,

and it’s all over the place.

And Manolo remained a constant through it.

Plus the exposure in SeXand the City, Manolo became unbelievably famous.

[Carrie] / too/(a wrong turn /oo/(/ng for the r/ght shoes,

and somewhere south of Ha/ston Street / qu/te //tera//y lost my d/rect/on.

Excuse me, sir.

I know this sounds ridiculous,

but can you tell me which way is West Broadway?

-Give me your bag. -What?

Your bag.

It’s a Baguette.

Let me have it.

/ cou/dn ’t be//e ve /t

F/fieen years In New York,

and just when the c/ty was gett/ng safe, / was gett/ng mugged

And your Manolo Blahniks.

What?

-No. -Give me your fucking Blahniks.

These guys weren ’t/ust alter money anymore. They were alter fash/on.

Please, sir, they’re my favorite pair.

I got them half price at a— at a sample sale.

Thanks.

Ohh! Ohh!

Somebody— Somebody stop him!

He took my strappy sandals!

Ohh! Please, somebody— Ow!

Ohh!

Everybody’s seen SeX/n the City.

Some people have seen Mar/e Anto/nette.

[woman] When we were working on Mar/e Anto/nette,

l was talking a lot with the great Milena. Canonero did the costumes.

And I thought of asking Manolo ’cause I thought,

“Who would Marie Antoinette ask to do her shoes?”

And she would have asked Manolo.

| just knew that he has a playful spirit.

[Prieto] He looked at the shoes of Marie Antoinette

and then tried to give them a modern slant.

[Coppola] We didn’t want it to feel dusty,

and we didn’t want it to feel like he pulled things out ofthe archives

and they were all faded.

Queuing up in Le Champs-Elysees to see the movie, and I called Manolo.

I said, “Manolo, I’m going in to see Mar/e Anto/nette. ”

And he said, “You must tell me what it’s like.”

And that first scene, when you see Marie Antoinette,

the first thing you see are Manolo’s shoes.

[Coppola] She’s losing herself in shopping

to avoid her sad marriage and being misunderstood.

Like a trophy wife in Beverly Hills shopping for Manolos.

He did about 23 pairs for the movie.

And he kept saying, “You know, it’s exhausting.

You can’t know—

You can’t imagine how difficult it is to design for the movies.”

His shoes that he made for Mar/e Anto/nette, for example,

were— were amazing and very sexy.

Those ones with the big bows. Very, very beautiful.

[Coppola] We had so much fun when the boxes all arrived.

And automatically, a girl’s blood pressure goes up when they see beautiful shoes.

So the energy was in the room when we were filming that.

On a macaroon high with shoes.

But I have to track down where those shoes are.

[woman] And the Oscar goes to...

-M/7ena Canonero for Marie Antoinette. -[cheers, applause]

He’s become a myth, but he still needs to live a life.

He just wants to run back to his house and shut himself in.

[woman] His father liked a lot the English culture.

That’s why I think Manolo has that connection,

that special connection with England.

[Manolo] My love of England began with Enid Blyton.

Eventually end up my mother reading L/tt/e Dorr/t,

which I was Little Dorrit.

Strikes me as a champagne kind of guy.

We have fizz, not true champagne.

[woman] Okay.

Yeah, on the signing table.

And so Bath has had a long heritage as a very fashionable city,

and it’s amazing that you are here and would like to call it home.

-What first attracted you to Bath? -This is my home, yes.

One ofthose things in life happen to me. Everything is accidental.

I got a house in 1981, so that’s it.

[Tree] He went to live in one ofthose Crescent terraced houses.

Beautiful but very sort of solitary and very lonely, I would have thought.

But he did that to really think

and to get into his imagination and to start creating.

You had to show so much of yourself

that you were not sure that your true self was still inside.

For Manolo, who seemed to be so outgoing,

suddenly you felt he had reached the limit.

[Everett] We went last year to his house.

It had a Miss Havisham quality to it

because he doesn’t really live in that house.

It was kind of a passing through type of thing.

He lives very much with work.

[Manolo] My window. And look outside. Everything is beautiful.

Sometimes on Sundays,

I walk up to the Crescent and back again and back and everything.

I love that.

[woman] Your book is absolutely incredible.

-Do you really like it? I’m so pleased. -Absolutely.

And I’m really happy because it took me two bloody years to finish.

And everybody, “No, no permission.” Copyright here. Copyright there.

-A|ways difficult. -It gave me goose bumps.

And to get the people in place, it’s not easy, let me tell you.

But I’m happy, yes, because the pictures of Mr. Roberts are divine.

And the pictures of Mr. Pan, the pictures of Mr. Av—

The pictures of everybody, they’re fabulous.

-Bailey even. -Oh?

-Yeah, he’s a bit difficult. -Difficult? Ooh!

-Who? -[man] Dave Bailey.

Davey. I adore him more than anybody in the world.

But he’s a difficult person.

[woman] Do you have a favorite chapter or particular one image from the book?

I adore Cecil Beaton,

because I grew up with those images in my visage, my face.

Cecil was a real person of the 20th century.

I’ve been spoiled since a child,

seeing his images in magazines, what he observe on people.

It was perfection, and he did capture that perfection.

[Prieto] British l/ogue asked Manolo to choose his favorite photograph.

He chose a still Cecil Beaton did with Jean Shrimpton in ’64.

This image impressed on the young Manolo this idea in fashion

that by fusing disparate elements, you can create something fresh.

I did have the privilege to ask Mr. Beaton

to do my campaign of drawings, because I’m sick of my drawings now.

By then I was exhausted of drawings.

[Prieto] He did the advertising for Manolo for Vogue

when he’d had a stroke and couldn’t use his right hand.

And more poignant and heartbreaking because it was near the end.

And there it is.

And obviously, Manolo was hugely honored.

[man] VTR 2621, “Beaton By Bailey.” Part 1, take 1.

[Bailey] What do you say to people when you photograph them?

-[camera shutter clicks] -| coo like a bloody dove.

I say, “Oh, that’s absolutely great.

Oh, that’s it.

Oh, that’s marvelous. Now we’re really getting somewhere.

Now were cooking with gas.”

Look at me, Cecil.

-That’s absolutely marvelous. -[shutter clicks]

Prec/oso.

-Oh, good. -Exce|lent.

-Look at me. -Mmm, that’s too coy.

-Good. -I really can’t go that far.

-Good. Can you coo some more? -Yes. All right?

In that film where I’m interviewing, I said, “Are you vain?”

Am I vain?

Oh, no.

I mean, really, the modest violet,

except I wouldn’t like to call myself a violet.

[laughs] “Am I conceited?” “Am I vain?”

Cecil. [laughing]

[Manolo] All that veneer of imperiousness and kind of gate—

spoiled person he was— um, touched me somehow.

I liked him so much really.

You know they have a good gardener here, somebody good.

Don’t you think? Ah.

l have every single article,

every single drawing that he did for Vogue.

Every single thing.

[singers vocalizing]

The only quality that | just got in common with Cecil—

this kind of fantasy about...

novelesque type of, um, excitement in the things that he did.

And l have that. l have— I go—

| go somewhere else. I don’t even know where.

You tell me to do something,

put me in front of a table and say, “Do this collection,” I do it.

I mean, without any—

It’s because I have this kind ofthing that I think he did have.

This kind of, uh...

novel type of... quality.

[woman] lfl had to describe Manolo as an animal,

he’d be a sort of bird-of-paradise,

sort of displaying its feathers.

And he’d probably have, like, amazing claws

with sort of like jeweled nails.

[woman] That thing that’s really so important about a Manolo shoe

is you can dance, that you can move, that you can walk,

you can run, you can turn, you can leap.

| always define beauty as grace.

Manolo shoes always give you the dance step.

[vocalizing continues]

[vocalizing stops]

[Manolo] I cannot tell you how much it was a pleasure to do the book.

For instance, in del Prado, Madrid,

I had a wonderful time.

From 9:00 to 11:00, the whole museum was for ourselves.

This museum. Suddenly l’ve discovered one day because our new position—

I discovered Velazquez, and then in front of it, the Goya one.

[woman] It was a surprise for me

to see how he remember things as they were years ago.

He said to me “No, that was here, that was there, that was... ”

So I don’t think there are many people that remember that anymore.

You know? He really knows the Prado.

[Manolo] I cannot compare myself with Goya because Goya is the king of shoes.

[Mena] It were not onlyjust his shoes, but the structure of the shoes.

And also the meaning ofthe shoes.

-[Manolo] With a heel, you told me. -With a heel.

You know, we’re talking about the shoes of Maria Luisa de Parma.

-Mm-hmm. -She was mad for shoes.

Each painting is so sensational.

The detail. You can see the ottoman de so/e.

-Okay. -A|| embroidery.

-Yeah. -And they’re very sensuous, by the way.

You wouldn’t think so, but they are.

[Picasso] It’s important for somebody like Manolo

to feed from all the culture around him,

whether it’s in the Prado

or maybe a building that he sees in the street.

Everything comes into him

and then is reworked without him even thinking about it.

It’s just how his mind works.

I think he’s a hero. [laughs]

In Spain, yes.

You know, the greatest.

-Well... -Yeah.

I never had his shoes. [laughs]

Because you haven’t been to London or try it anywhere, you see.

[Calvo] Manolo is one ofthe three great celebrities produced by Spain

in the 20th century.

Picasso, Almodévar— Pedro Almodévar—

and Manolo Blahnik.

-[applause] -[woman on microphone] Manolo Blahnik.

[Mena] The great philosophers say,

“If you want to be happy one day, have good food.

If you want to be happy for a month, fall in love.

If you want to be happy for the rest of your life,

look after your garden.”

-Is it true? -Yeah, absolutely.

[Manolo] The first things I touched in life were flowers.

I try very much

to fulfill my desires of being a gardener

because I really achieved it quite well.

[sighs]

l was born in a banana plantation and still love that kind of monotony.

Bananas, bananas, bananas.

Sugar cane, sugar cane, sugarcane.

And calla lilies, calla lilies, calla lilies.

And wisteria.

Oh, wisteria. Oh, I love the name, first of all.

Wisteria. It’s so Olympic.

It’s so Hellenistic in a way, but it isn’t.

I love the smell.

Can have one and put it here, and it’ll be too much.

No, I don’t want to do that. I don’t dare to cut it.

[Fernandez-Santos] He’s all the time in the garden.

And all the plants, he like taking care ofthem.

You think that it’s not controlled, but it’s controlled.

He likes that.

Like the boots with— with the—

with the little laces, yeah, going up.

That is the special thing

about being raised in a place like the Canary Islands.

That you have to be very close to nature,

and you have to understand nature, and you love nature.

[up-tempo jazz playing]

[Manolo] l was born a few kilometers from the coast of Africa.

Like I’m an African too,

because it’s nothing exotic or strange for me.

But it’s beautiful. That’s all | see.

[music continues]

He’s very attracted to that Africa ofthe ’30s and the ’40s.

That was a very— also a very romantic kind of Africa.

No, it’s like an idea of Africa.

Well, my Africa’s not the Africa of everybody, let me tell you.

He’s always interpreted the most extraordinary leopard motifs,

sandals, raw materials from Africa.

Dark barks and beautiful skin stenciled as giraffe,

stenciled as wildebeest, ifthere could be such a thing.

He recreates Africa in his hands.

So that’s why he makes it so...

It’s a new Africa, a different Africa, his Africa.

[lman] He takes pieces ofthings, of where inspirations comes from,

and elevates it

so that a modern woman can actually incorporate it in her life.

‘Cause a lot ofthe times what I find is—

Like when people do an homage to an African piece,

it becomes like something you bought from a bazaar.

[music continues]

The Messiah collection that he did for Dior,

you can still wear— you still see the influences everywhere, till today.

| get Africa from this shoe.

I can get Salvador. I can get Africa.

| get Africa from the shoe,

but I consider Salvador to be part of Africa.

Yeah. So I get this shoe a 110 percent.

[McDowell] But his culture was influenced enormously by Africa.

He just found it exciting and exotic,

which it clearly was, when he was a little boy.

[lman] There is no “Manolo Blahnik.” It’s “Manolo.”

Every woman knows it.

It has become part of every woman’s language.

And young girls— young—

My daughter knows what a Manolo is.

[woman] What do you hope people will take from the book?

l was thinking at the beginning, maybe people don’t even know these people,

and I thought it’s a good idea to have now the book so they can see.

Every one of those people really evoke a period of my youth, my childhood later on,

and they’re always inspiring me, even now.

I like free spirits. This is what I really love.

These women who just did something for me.

I mean, they’d create that excitement for me.

I never, ever, ever replace them.

I never could just get out of my mind, and this is sad.

Anna Piaggi’s Italy, the whole of Europe.

Anna— I saw her and we click and said hello.

Then we started to talk. We talk.

We’ve been very good friends for 45 years.

[chuckles]

We did a wonderful ritual. I love rituals.

Every Friday evening at the terrazza in the hotel,

we had dinner and we’d never talk about fashion.

She mixed Chanel with the most trashy things in California.

She was never appreciated in Italy as much as she should have been.

lsabella used to be on the telephone, midnight, blah, blah, blah,

talking nonsense.

Like | always do. But, um—

But lsabella was special because she was so inspiring.

She would send me The Book of Cur/os/t/es

with the say, “I hope you will enjoy this.

Darling Manolo, you know that I love you forever.”

And I thought, “Gosh, how frightening.”

She knew what I would love to do, and she was one of my favorite, favorite.

I still miss her tremendously.

Up to the last minute I was doing shoes for her.

Tina Chow was like the instrument of my great inspiration.

Very few people selected by this God

have been put on this earth to create what she did create for me.

So strong the friendship and the bond between one, you know.

And then she was this incredible...

taste and elegance.

Not acquired. Simply, she was born with it.

And the way she moves— I love this kind of movement.

It’s like that little girl Rihanna.

She’s beautiful. The move.

And then Tina had that magic also.

All the people who die is always with me somehow.

ldon’t think he has ever sought a relationship.

I don’t think he has the time. I don’t think he would even have the patience.

I don’t thinkthat anyone could be a partner because he’s so refined.

I mean, there’s so many—

The colognes. The clothes. The layers. The linens. The colors.

The houses. The pillows.

The furniture. The paintings. The walls.

The drapes. The— Everything.

Live?

With my mother and father and my sister and the people.

No, no, no. I don’t live with anybody.

Never share anything with anybody. Never flats and everything.

[clacking]

The idea of Manolo having sex was very much a subject of conversation

when I almost first knew him.

Manolo, at that time, used to make a great fuss of me.

He went on about my neck and my skin. Not anymore.

[Malkemus] He thinks about sex

in the sense of the woman that he designs for.

Sex, when it comes to his design, is preeminent in everything he does.

[Talley] It’s fetish.

When he does a black shoe with a silver chain,

it’s certainly a bondage shoe, but it was a bondage shoe with elegance.

He goes to within an inch of vulgarity but stops.

His naivety about sexual activities practiced

are really what fuels his imagination.

And definitely not inclinations for anything like that.

Because I’m not what I call a “sexual object.”

lthinkthe shoes, which I love, are very masculine.

They’re very aggressive.

They look like giant tattooed cocks, in a way,

with Concorde heads.

[Roberts] Are you a solitary person?

lndeed, still lam, and I enjoy every second of it!

How solitary?

Well, l have to call people all the time.

[laughs]

But not in the sense of, like, um, I cannot tolerate anybody with me at home.

Ohh.

I do, when a woman comes to clean and the people come to clean.

It is a miracle. I don’t like people around me.

Manolo, when | first knew him,

was already a little bit, I remember, disease phobic,

which was something I hadn’t really come across, although was about to.

Proximity of the eating people. Potato chips.

-It makes me really crazy. -[Roberts] Vinegar.

And vinegar. Ooh!

Ohh! Anyone that used to eat fish and chips with vinegar,

l’d run away miles.

l’m allergic, okay?

[Everett] The older you get,

relationships with favorite restaurants and hotels

become some of the most satisfactory ones

because they can’t really answer back too much.

But you can have a certain type of proper intimacy in those places.

And I’m sure the relationship with Four Seasons in Milan

is largely enough of a relationship.

I think it suits him.

[Manolo] | see them every day, so I really like.

Yes, it is a family.

I adore lgnazia. [speaks ltalian]

[Gamicchia speaking ltalian]

The world I imagine that Manolo would have enjoyed

is kind of gone.

Anyone at his age, you know,

working in one ofthese very competitive businesses now,

if you decide to go on doing that job,

I don’t see how there’s any energy for anything else really.

I think it’s sensible of him to close himself off.

[speaking Spanish]

[sighs]

Good morning, dear.

It is quite sad to say that, but this is the only thing I love, totally love.

Working every day from 8:00 to 10:00.

| go there and the whole world disappear, just doing what I really adore to do.

[Talley] In his head, in his DNA, in his veins,

the blood runs like the great craftsmen of Chelini.

I can just see him shaving away those soles.

[chorus] I Gloria, Gloria J‘

J‘ Gloria, Gloria J‘

J‘ In excelsis Deo J‘

You know we’re gonna do it perfectly. I take two hours.

[Manolo] l have to really be there all the time.

I like to do the thing and then somebody else produce it.

But I have to do the sample myself.

J‘ Gloria J‘

J‘ Gloria J‘

J‘ Gloria J‘

J‘ In excelsis J‘

J‘DeoJ‘

Three things are so important. The quality ofthe material.

J‘ Gloria J‘

J‘ Gloria J‘

J‘ In excelsis J‘

Then the technical part of it.

J‘DeoJ‘

J‘ Gloria in excelsis J‘

J‘ Gloria in excelsis J‘

Third is how you put it together.

J‘DeoJ‘

J‘ Gloria in excelsis J‘

J‘DeoJ‘

Stitches.

All those elements absolutely make the shoe what it is.

J‘ Gloria in excelsis Deo J‘

[speaking Spanish]

[singing in Spanish]

[continues singing]

Enough.

Whoops.

[speaking Spanish]

[Roberts] You still design everything yourself, which is very rare.

[Manolo] Unfortunately, yes.

-No, it isn’t. -Unfortunately.

Because it’s killing me.

No studio that actually designs for you?

-No— -What do you mean studios?

Like this woman I went today in this big talking vogue.

She say, “Oh, my team, my team.”

l was so cross. I say, “Well, how do you work with teams? I mean... ”

And she was not very happy.

Manolo cannot work with anyone. Manolo can’t—

Listen, listen. I mean, you know, he doesn’t.

He— He— His mind races.

No, it’s gonna fall.

This little whole concept I’m not into.

You’re not into it? I’m so sorry, but I am.

Good.

If you don’t sell it, good-bye.

You have to have a stern character to be able to even work with Manolo.

To have an assistant would be impossible.

-Good-bye to me? -No, good-bye to the shoe.

-To the shoe. -Oh. One shoe. It’s okay.

[Malkemus] Manolo’s decollete, or his pump, is probably his great signature.

You take in the whole silhouette of the foot.

So the decollete, in the sense of a dress, is the decollete of a breast.

A decollete in a shoe is the toe cleavage.

Give me, like, an interest of standard decollete.

The toe cleavage.

Ooh, I find it so demode.

[Malkemus] A kitten heel is something that Manolo has done from the beginning.

It’s about a 50-millimeter, so it’s slightly under two and a half inches.

It often has a sort of curve to it.

And it’s something that sort of people recognize more often

with an Audrey Hepburn.

You know, “think pink”— that kind of era of shoes.

There’s something that’s sort of kinky about it

and quite youngish about it.

[Malkemus] Manolo is most famous, of all designers, for the mule.

He loves the sort of click-clack of a mule,

so basically when a woman walks down the street and you hear her coming,

it’s something that’s very, very sexy.

How does he keep coming up with things that are so right

when I’m trying so hard and I can’t?

And the fact is you’re trying so hard and you can’t

because you’re six steps behind,

and he will always be like a little sprite,

sort of da-da-da, you know, skipping ahead of you.

I love the idea ofthe combination of Manolo and Rihanna.

I love the idea.

Yes, it’s good. It’s going to be perfection.

[woman] Rihanna!

[Dudzeele] She have fun. She have fun. She have fun.

This is what fashion should be.

[Manolo] I’m fascinated by the movement of her, especially the neck.

She’s beautiful. She’s like the new Grace Kelly.

Me, I love me a stupid high shoe that’s out of control.

But I also don’t like to see

a woman not be able to walk in a shoe.

So I’m very considerate ofthat, you know.

Everybody can’t wear a super ridiculous heel.

[Manolo] Isn’t that fabulous, that one?

This I really love. It’s called like— I don’t really know. Like a pampas.

[man] Your legs are that high?

Honey, yes. She has long legs.

Baby, yes, she does.

I love them. Like, I’m so excited about them.

Yes, I love a shoe that can make another girl jealous.

And this is, like, one of my favorite shoes.

So we’re gonna do a variation of that one, but we’re gonna do much more...

-Yeah, I think it should look like flesh. exaggerate like a couture.

But then these embellishments are, like, flesh tones.

Beautiful.

Yeah, so that it’sjust, like, naked on your foot but sparkle.

-Movement of the thing. -Yeah, like just perfect.

-We’re doing a couple of heights. -This...

-A couple of height heels. -Compromise.

-One of five. -Compromise.

-| compromise. -Compromise.

-Manolo knows the comfortable heel. -She knows how to walk.

She knows what’s exactly going on. And she knows more than I do.

Because I don’t have a clue what’s going on.

I do what I do, and that’s it. But she knows.

That is a great, great thing that just push me to this. It’s a challenge.

He sort of sees it almost as his duty

to make women look beautiful and feel great about their shoes.

He always describes himself to me, and I’m sure to others, as a cobbler.

Just sort ofthe little cobbler living above his shop

is his fantasy of himself,

and I think it’s where he truly finds his happiness.

[Manolo] In Moscow, four years ago, a woman said to me,

“Are you an artist?” In French. In perfect French.

[speaking French]

[Wintour] It’s almost like a sort of Dickensian shopkeeper, you know,

and sort of a lot of bowing and scraping and “madame.”

And, you know, it’sjust very— But it’s very humble and very sweet.

And you sort of feel honored to be so taken care of

and so treasured and so able to make someone so happy.

There’s two shoes for her. They’re great. I love them.

-These are fabulous. -The coral one.

-Is it too small? -Beautiful. No, it’s perfect.

l... [mouths words, laughs]

-You’ve got divine feet. -Oh, well, ballerina— ballerina feet.

-Ballerina. Is it tight? -No, they’re perfect.

Long before I was a model, l was a ballerina.

-This is first. -First.

-This is second. -Second.

-This is third. -Yeah.

Fourth. And fifth.

[Manolo] God created woman because they should be like this.

-You’d be ideal for this sequence. -Yes.

You are Moira Shearer.

[laughs]

I do that scene.

I can move. ljust can’t talk.

Don’t talk.

Oh, how lovely you look.

She is the modern woman.

Let’s go.

[singers vocalizing]

[Manolo] Now that I’m getting older,

I’m back again to the things that | used to love when l was a child.

Sicily and The Leopard

It is the most extraordinary novel ofthe 20th century and now.

Each time that you read, you find something new.

Another sentence and say, “Suddenly the sea had stopped.”

I don’t want the page to finish.

I don’t thinkthere’s anything in the world as beautiful as // Gattopardo.

I went to see the film.

He’s the only one who could capture the essence

ofthe dying aristocracy in Sicily.

To me it was incredible, and I still see it every year, twice.

It’s ltaly through the eyes ofthe genius.

I never knew ltaly.

I never knew the entire Sicilian culture.

The novel speaks about life

as a set number of years.

-You have 60 years. -Centuries.

First you are young, you go around, you are in love.

Then you mature, you have children, some lovers.

Then you retire, and you are old, and you must cope with death.

This is true about Lampedusa.

-There is no time. It’s forever. -Yes.

You understand? It’s forever.

They come again and again.

[bird chirps]

[Manolo] What I love about Sicily is the divine light.

l have an incredible sort of affection for this Hellenistic culture.

The first thing I do is look at the feet of statues.

I’m not a fetishist, but I love feet.

I cannot even have any reaction, sensual or otherwise.

When I see feet, it’s simply beautiful.

| find it beautiful.

There are wonderful erotic resonances

about shoes and sandals in ancient Greece.

[Manolo] They have classical education.

l was born with a classical education.

We all know that sucking people’s toes

means something more than just sucking their toes.

So, in a way, how you dress the foot

was as kind of edgy, I think, in ancient Greece and Rome

as it is now.

When you go and see Pauline Borghese at the Borghese Museum,

which is one of my favorite feet in the world, I could kiss that feet for days.

[Beard] He’s not on his own

in thinking that feet are really interesting.

And one ofthe things you can’t help but notice

when you look at ancient sculpture

is quite how much attention has gone into the foot.

But I never thought about doing shoes ever,

because, I mean, the shoes destroy the beauty of the feet.

But I was very in love with feet, yes. I still love feet.

[Beard] So shoes and the classics are all part ofthe same project.

And the shoes, the product of him thinking, of him talking,

of him working, of him putting together different bits of world culture

into this new shape which turns out amazingly to be a shoe.

-[Roberts] Manolo Blahnik. -Oh, again.

Yes?

Do you still celebrate your birthday?

Oh, I try to forget.

In fact, I don’t do it. I don’t tell anybody.

[Roberts] om

Do you consider yourself old?

No. You know, I don’t ever think about that.

You are young at heart?

Well, yes, at heart, yes, but not— not...

I rarely think about being—

-Remembered? -No, remember. Whatever.

I enjoy every day.

I mean, I enjoy every second or whatever.

-But the legacy— -But I don’t want legacy nonsense.

-No legacy? -I don’t really care less.

No, I don’t. I have no perception ofthis.

Never did like fame and things and this.

ldon’t give a damn.

What I do is very sort of...

passage.

But the one I really like the best

is | help this profession in a sense of like...

more people doing it.

I like that.

Very, very exciting to have created this kind of interest in shoes.

This is the only thing if I want to be remembered

is possibly he make women lovely

and men desire the women and blah, blah, blah.

To be a great designer, great creator,

you have to be interested in the world and in the history and in people.

And you think ofthe beautiful and extraordinary women

that Manolo has made shoes for over the years.

[woman] And who wears or has worn your shoes best?

[woman 2] There’s a good question.

You better.

Um, I don’t know, but I have—

Years ago, not now,

I saw somebody in the station here,

and she was a woman of certain age,

but she was kind of, um...

She had this incredible sort of presence.

A little bun, blonde hair,

glasses that looked almost in the old-fashioned things

like a secretary.

Um, but she was wearing one of my pumps,

and it was like a little bit tiny heel,

and she was so divine.

I never knew the woman, but that is the woman I remember.

This is the people I like to see—

ordinary people wearing things so beautiful.

You can’t create another original like that.

I mean, he is exceptional, I think.

Exceptional.

And long may he reign being exceptional.

I wanted to do a shoe for Mary Beard. Greek.

I think Manolo is still full of surprises.

Sometimes he does collections,

like the one with all the balls on the heel.

I mean, I was completely overwhelmed by that.

[Manolo] There you go.

This is like a— lfeel like a monkey performing.

It is what I’m doing.

He’s a breath of imagination. He is unique.

And when he’s gone, sadly there will be none other.

There will never, ever be another Manolo.

[laughs] God.

The thing to do is not to take yourself serious.

Otherwise, you’re finished.

So many ofthe people actually don’t create that much.

I mean, they go back to the flea market

and then they take something and they say, “Okay, let’s do it again.”

Whereas with Manolo, it’s a completely different process.

Very deep and...

sensual process, actually, too.

I love decorating.

I love the lines ofthe shoe,

but my favorite thing is thinking about color and decoration.

I would trust him to sort of, you know,

remake my entire world because ofjust the sense of color.

The old techniques of working are disappearing,

and the new people don’t want to learn new things.

He’s original. He’s a one-off.

And I love the way he likes to put on his white jacket

or his workman’s jacket and... start carving shoes.

I bet there’s not many designers that do that themselves.

No, he’s great.

| used to do everything myself.

The heel, the last, everything.

But now it’s like, you know,

I do the last, I do the shape and good-bye.

All Manolo shoes can fit.

Not just fit on the foot, but they fit into world culture,

and he makes them with that in mind.

[Manolo] I rather look beautifully made, not expensive.

I don’t like expensive things.

He is the king of shoes. He really is.

And he is an artist.

And he’s not about trend.

But also, the most important thing is the comfort factor.

I love the way he calls his shoes his creatures, you know,

because, um, they’re not like animals and they’re not like people,

but they are like creatures of his imagination.

Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t you see it?

I think you see this nonsense. This is really embarrassing.

Please.

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