Toronto museum gets Manolo exhibit

If, like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, you worship at the shrine of Manolo, the Bata Shoe Museum has some good news.

The travelling exhibition Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes will make its only North American stop at the Toronto museum May 16 through Jan. 6, 2019.

It’s also the final stop on the tour, which has already visited Milan, Saint Petersburg and Prague, and is currently in Madrid.

The 75-year-old Spanish designer and guest curator Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz selected close to 200 shoes and 80 drawings for the exhibit, which shows how architecture, art, botany, literature, cinema and various countries have influenced Blahnik’s 45-plus years of designs.

“What an honour for me, to display my shoes and sketches at such an esteemed establishment dedicated to the history of footwear,” Blahnik said in a news release. “Toronto is such a fantastic, cultural city, I am thrilled to be returning.” The museum plans programming to complement the exhibit, including tours, workshops, a film series and a screening of the documentary Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards. See batashoemuseum.ca for information. Debra Yeo