TheShoeGoddess.comThe Shoe Goddess

I attended a discussion last week at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills with the CEO of Manolo Blahnik, George D. Malkemus, III. The presentation was lovely, and the models looked great in their Donna Karan dresses. Obviously the shoes were the topic of discussion as Malkemus explained the design of each shoe and then answered questions from the audience. The point of the whole show, as Malkemus says, was to learn about what women like in Beverly Hills, and what women’s thoughts are about the collection, both good and bad. It’s a learning experience for him, and part of his job, to make sure that the Manolo Blahnik collection continues to grow.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Malkemus after the presentation and was able to learn a lot about the brand, the Sex and the City mania and the man behind the name. He was totally delightful, and not what I would picture the CEO of such a large company to be like. He was charming, and very talkative, and eager to answer any questions that I had. He first got into shoes working in a shoe store throughout college in the 70s during every vacation. He met Manolo Blahnik in 1981 and bought the company in 1982. He truly loves every aspect of his job, traveling and constantly learning, along with assisting in the design.

When describing Manolo Blahnik, he uses the words passion and focus, and says that the city that inspires him the most is Prague. His muse is Tina Chow, and he misses her every day, she was his best friend.

The goal that he has in his shoes is to make women feel light and beautiful. He doesn’t want the shoe to be the focus, but rather the shoe to compliment the beauty of the woman. Hence, the trend that they are not a fan of is platforms. All of his shoes sit at the ground, yet remain totally comfortable. Manolo feels that the lighter a woman looks when she walks, the better the shoe, and weight is something he stays away from. He believes in the totality of beauty in a woman wearing his shoes.

When I asked about the saturation of the shoe market, Malkemus described that they really design for what women want, and that is how they have had such tremendous staying power in the market. If a woman could only bring one shoe to travel with, he thinks a plain luggage pump is the ultimate in effortless glam. They go with everything, and are timeless. As for the shoes that every woman must have, it was really no surprise. The Mary Jane Campari, the shoe myth for all Sex and the City lovers out there. I was interested to learn that the shoe was designed after a girl’s first shoe. When a girl is young, often times her first shoe is a Mary Jane, and he wanted to take that and make it for a woman. The shoe represents a baby girl, but embraces the sexiness and femininity of women.

Speaking of Sex and the City, Blahnik wants everyone to be clear. While he said that he was sick of Sex and the City, he just meant that he was tired of people always asking about it. However, he knows just how important pop culture is in the current economic climate as well, and how it influences women out shopping. Sarah Jessica Parker remembered the kindness of Blahnik to her in her earlier days, and when Sex and the City came to be, she brought the shoes with her, making them a house hold name, and Blahnik is forever grateful to her for this. Blahnik wants women to remember his shoes, and to remember how they feel when they are wearing them, however, he does think that there is a such thing as women having too many shoes.

Manolo Blahnik’s have withstood the test of time, and women still run to them. And truly, it is no wonder why, the shoes are classic, timeless and still remain fashion forward and off the time.