User:Floraun/sandbox

Biography
Blahnik was born and rasied in the Canary Island. His Czech father’s family owned a pharmaceutical firm in Prague, and his Spanish mother’s family owned a banana plantation in the island city of Santa Cruz de la Palma. He was born and raised in Santa Crus de la Palma in the Canary Island (Spain). He was homeschooled when he was a child. After he grew up, he attended a Swiss boarding school. Later, his parents wanted him to be a diplomat, and enrolled him at the University of Geneva majoring in Politics and Law. However, Blahnik changed his majors to Literature and Architecture. In 1965, he got his degree and moved to Paris for studying Art at the École des Beaux-Arts and Stage Set Design at the Louvre Art School, while working at a vintage clothing shop. In 1968, he moved to London in 1968 to work as a buyer at fashion boutique "Zapata" and wrote for L’Uomo Vogue, a Italian men’s version of Vogue.

In 1970, Blahnik had a chance to meet Diana Vreeland, the editor-in-chief of U.S Vogue, while he was travelling in New York. He showed his portfolio of fashions and set design to Vreeland, and then she looked him straight in the eye and said, “Young man, do things, do accessories, do shoes.” She admires his shoes sketches and advice him to concentrate on designing footwear. Then, Blahnik has followed her advice and worked on designing shoes.

In 1972, Ossie Clark invited him to create shoes for his runway show. Also, He designed shoes for other London fashion designers, such as Jean Muir and Zandra Rhodes. With a loan of £2,000, Blahnik bought Zapata from its owner and opened his own boutique. In 1974, Blahnik was featured on the cover of U.L. Vogue, and he is the first man to be featured on that cover page. Since 1977, he sold his shoes in America, through Bloomingdales, and opened his boutique in the U.S. Since then, he has become a very famous shoes designer, and a symbol of pure classic style for the 21st century.

His Shoes
Blahnik has never studied in making shoes in school. He learned the skills of shoe making by visiting shoe factories and talking to pattern cutters, technicians and machine operators. At first, he was designing men’s footwear, but he immediately found that men’s shoes design relatively limiting his imagination and lacking the element of fashion. Beside, when the mainstream shoe styling was still dominated by clumpy platforms in the 1970s, he revived the sleek stiletto heel, which has since become a classic. Also, he hates wedges and believes in the power of heels and the sex appeal they convey.

Blahnik has worked wholeheartedly on his shoes. He is not only drawing the design of a pair of shoes, but also hand-crafted the shoes by himself. He would carve the wooden masts which he then hand sculpts the first shoe onto. When the time comes for mass production, he oversees every step to ensure each shoe is an exact copy of his original creation. He always keeps every one of his designs: 25,000 shoes are arranged in date order in panelled cupboards that fill up two adjoining houses in a Georgian terrace in Bath. And now, he still keeps designing.

Like any great couturier, Manolo Blahnik’s shoe styles are kept to small exclusive production numbers and his style signature is easily recognizable.

The Classic Manolo Blahnik's Stiletto Heels:
 * BB Pump
 * Hangisi Pump
 * Swan Pump
 * Campari Pump
 * Chaos Sandal

Awards & Honors
Honors


 * 1998: Shoe Designer of the Year from Footwear News
 * 2003: Shoe Designer of the Year from Footwear News
 * 2007 Honorary CBE from Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
 * 2011 The SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) Andre Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award.
 * 2011 A Lifetime Achievement Award from Footwear News.