Book Description
A shoe can be more than a fashion accessory; it can also become a precise structure suspended between sculpture, architecture, and the human body. Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes surveys forty-five years of Manolo Blahnik’s work through finished shoes, original drawings, newly commissioned photography, and personal reflections, inviting readers into a creative world shaped by art, history, cinema, architecture, and memory. Published in conjunction with the international touring exhibition of the same name, this volume is not simply a brand retrospective, but an important study of how footwear can move beyond fashion into the realms of craft and art.
The distinctive quality of Manolo Blahnik’s designs lies not only in their slender heels, elegant proportions, and elaborate decoration, but also in his highly refined understanding of structure and bodily movement. For Blahnik, a shoe is a form of miniature architecture, required to negotiate weight, balance, support, and line at the same time. The angle of the heel, the curve of the arch, the cut of the upper, and the choice of materials must all be carefully considered in order to achieve a balance between wearability and sculptural presence.
Organized in the manner of an alphabetical dictionary, the book brings together the artists, architects, fashion figures, films, plants, and historical references that have shaped Blahnik’s imagination. From Goya, Zurbarán, Picasso, Barbara Hepworth, and Zaha Hadid to Balenciaga, Azzedine Alaïa, and Yves Saint Laurent, influences drawn from painting, sculpture, architecture, and fashion are transformed into color, silhouette, and ornament. Childhood memories of the Canary Islands, European court dress, botanical forms, and craft traditions from different cultures all contribute to a richly layered design language that resists any single definition.
Carlo Draisci’s photographs remove the shoes from the runway and from conventional styling, allowing the viewer to focus instead on the last, materials, embroidery, heel construction, and surface detail. Each shoe is presented as an autonomous object, almost like a sculpture. Blahnik’s original drawings, meanwhile, preserve the fluid, expressive, and theatrical quality of his hand, revealing how an idea moves from paper into a three-dimensional object made to be worn. Together, these images also illuminate the essential relationship between the designer and the skilled artisans who bring each form to life.
Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes is more than a visual survey of luxurious footwear. It is a refined publication about the ways inspiration, proportion, craftsmanship, and beauty come together through design. It is especially suited to footwear and fashion designers, accessory design students, fashion historians, stylists, collectors, and readers interested in the connections between art, architecture, and dress. Through this book, we come to understand that truly iconic footwear does more than adorn the feet: it transforms culture, memory, and imagination into art that can be worn and carried through the world.
Details
Author: Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz, Carlo Draisci, Rafael Moneo
Publisher: Skira Rizzoli
Publication Year: 2017
Size: 31×23 cm
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 128 pages
