Art and Sole
The touring retrospective exhibition The Art of Shoes celebrates the imaginative genius of footwear maestro Manolo Blahnik. Kim Reyes reports
he name manolo blahnik has been synonymous with the shoes of our dreams—unmistakably sexy, oftentimes whimsical, and simply irresistible. When it comes to crafting fetish-worthy footwear, Blahnik is a true artist. So it’s only fitting that the current exhibition celebrating the legend’s creations is titled The Art of Shoes. The touring retrospective features 212 designs and 80 original sketches, handpicked by Blahnik with exhibition curator Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz. The selection represents a mere sliver of the designer’s archive of over 30,000 designs, spanning a 45-year career. Much like a fashion doyenne might organise her shoe wardrobe by style or occasion, the exhibition also takes a thematic—rather than chronological—approach. The shoes are categorised into six sections, giving unique insight into the designer’s most significant influences and inspirations. In Nature, Blahnik’s deep love for flora and fauna is evident in designs directly inspired by flowers and plants, sea life, and animals. The Ivy, created for Ossie Clark in 1972, cheekily depicts cherry vines wrapping around the wearer’s ankle. Gala hails the designer’s limitless imagination, with designs that personify fantasy and lush embellishment. The highlight is the range of playful 18th-century-style court shoes Blahnik created exclusively for Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette. Within Art and Architecture are pieces inspired by the art world, including architecture, cinema and classical masters such as Picasso and Goya. Shoes inspired by Blahnik’s travels, meanwhile, are collectively gathered in Geography, showcasing aesthetic influences from countries such as Spain, Italy, Africa, Russia, England and Japan. The exhibition’s largest section, rightfully named Heart, displays shoes dedicated to the personalities most influential to the designer. There are the black-and-white striped opentoe heels made for long-time friend Anna Piaggi in 1976, and the 9 to 5 thigh-high boots from last year’s collaboration with Rihanna. Launched in Milan’s Palazzo Morando in January, the exhibition moves to the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg this month, followed by the Museum Kampa in Prague, the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas in Madrid, and finally to the Bata shoe museum in Toronto in 2018. For devotees, the accompanying book will be available online at manoloblahnik.com.