On September 16, Manolo Blahnik released a collection of shoes precious to him in more ways than the public can imagine. Blahnik fell in love with the Rococo aesthetic and its corresponsive queen when he was just a child. Most of us recall our mothers reading us fairy tales at bedtime when we were younger, but Blahnik remembers Stefan Zweig’s 1932 biography of Marie Antoinette instead.
Blahnik’s love for the 18th century Queen is well known in the industry. He goes to every exhibition, reads every book and watches every film. This is why, according to Lilah Ramzi of Vogue, it was a no-brainer for director Sofia Coppola to hire him to design and make the shoes for the 2006 cult classic film “Marie Antoinette.”
According to Alexander Fury of AnOther Magazine, both Coppola and costume designer Milena Canonero told him to not worry too much about historical accuracy, but instead to think about what she “would’ve wanted if she had come to you for shoes.” That’s when Blahnik got to work and handmake the shoes for the film, just like Antoinette’s royal shoemaker would’ve done four times a week back in the 18th century.
The 11 new styles of his more recent collection are a full circle moment, honoring not only his ongoing love for the monarch, but also Coppola’s film. The collection was released just a couple of days before the “Marie Antoinette Style” exhibition opened in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. This exhibit features Blahnik’s designs from the film, as well as over 250 pieces from Antoinette’s life, including the iconic pair of leather heels she wore to her execution.
These shoes inspired styles from the collection like Clementel and Palissot, both black, silk shoes, stamped with the iconic 18th century buckle, to pay tribute to the Queen’s last steps. The exhibition will run until the end of March, where one will not only find the beautiful shoes themselves but, for the first time, some of Blahnik’s drawings and sketches will be displayed as well.
As us fashionable gals know, Blahnik is synonymous with bows, pleats, ruffles, jewels and decadent footwear, so his usual collections don’t stray too far from Antoinette’s glam. American fashion editor Diana Vreeland once told Blahnik, “focus on extremities.” That’s exactly what he has done for the past 50 years, just take a look at the Hangisi Blue Satin Jewel Buckle Pumps made famous by the television show Sex and the City.
The shoe debuted in 2008, almost a decade before Blahnik’s Marie Antoinette collection, and still one can appreciate the elegant royal blue design with an opulent square crystal buckle in the center. Truly reminiscent of 1700s European fashion and its icon, Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Navarre.
Who would’ve taught a 300-year-old monarch would be the muse for one the most renounced shoemakers of our time. If Marie Antoinette would’ve lived in the 21st century I bet she would’ve said, “let them eat Manolos.”
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