From Publishers Weekly

My shoes are not fashion, they are gestures. So says Blahnik in a book that lays out his designs as brightly colored whimsies, sketches deftly convey the essences of his creations. Drawings show shoes alone or with a hint of foot and leg, and yet there is so much energy and color in the 134 illustrations (125 in color) that they seem to wink and pirouette off the page. As designs, the shoes are salacious cartoons of themselves, curvy and heeled, bejeweled and shimmery. Celeb quotes, interspersed throughout, heighten the spiraling sense of posturing and play. Madonna says, they are as good as sex... and they last longer. You just put on your Manolos and you automatically find yourself saying ‰Hi sailor' to every man that walks by, says Joan Rivers. Naomi Campbell calls the man the godfather of sole. Paloma Picasso, Isaac Mizrahi, Bianca Jagger also check in, and there are introductory essays by Vogue titans Anna Wintour, AndrE Leon Talley and Anna Piaggi, as well as by Michael Roberts of the New Yorker. The tasteful layout defers to Blahnik's work, with minimalist gray text alongside the circusy colors, and Blahnik's fabulous cursive descriptions. Divided by decade, from the 1970s to the 2000s, the collection is diverse and fun, and as documentary as a museum catalogue. It should appeal to any fashionista or design aficionado anyone with a sense of shoes as art.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Manolo Blahnik's shoes inspire fanatical devotion. ''Manolo Blahnik's shoes are as good as sex, '' Madonna has said. ''And they last longer.'' Diane Von Furstenberg has more than eighty pairs; Paloma Picasso has been a fan since she was fourteen; Bianca Jagger and Kate Moss, to name just a few, are fellow addicts. For three decades, Blahnik's sense of the theatrical wedded to the finest materials and superlative craftsmanship have held the fashion world spellbound, and his creations have graced the catwalks of great designers from Yves Saint-Laurent to Isaac Mizrahi to John Galliano. Here, collected together for the first time, are over one hundred exquisite drawings that Blahnik makes at the outset of the design process. These sketches are executed with such exuberance and deftness that they have become as sought after as the shoes themselves (they often fetch up to $15,000.00 at charity auctions). Inimitable in style, the drawings, beautifully reproduced in this book with special inks, vividly convey Blahnik's unique vision. Whether it's a Grecian sandal designed for Galliano, with a snake-like strap slithering up the calf, or an emerald- and bead-fringed satin mule, the seductive attention to detail in the drawings conjures up the shoe itself. Illuminating introductions by Anna Wintour and Michael Roberts explore why Manolo Blahnik's shoes inspire such passion, and these are complemented throughout the book by the words of admirers including Suzie Menkes, Donatella Versace, and David Hockney. Michael Roberts also contributes a photographic essay showing Blahnik at work in his studio, making sketches, preparing the wooden lasts, and supervising the production of his shoes at hisfactories in Italy. A final ''scrapbook'' section includes Manolo Blahnik's own photographs of family, friends, and inspirational places.

About the Author

Anna Wintour is the editor of American Vogue.

Michael Roberts is fashion editor of The New Yorker and author of, among many other books, Jungle ABC and Manolo Blahnik Drawings.