This high-fashion shoe brand seems to have no trouble selling everything they can make-even though they start at $600 and go on up?
I fail to see what is so great about them.
Plus-the rather strange name-is it a real name?
At any rate-why are these shoes considered so “chic”?
They’re “special” because they’re overhyped and because nutty fashion “authorities” declared that they’re special. Women don’t even like wearing them; like most high heels, they’re not comfortable. Every formal event I’ve ever been to, half the women wind up barefoot by the end of the evening, carrying their shoes in one hand. It’s absurd.
I’m guessing they are “so special” because not very many women can afford them. If you can afford them, then you must be special, too. I’ve never tried a pair on because 1) they’re out of my price range and 2) the ones I’ve seen in person were very ugly.
Oh, come on. I don’t own any Manolo Blahnik or similarly-priced shoes myself, hate shoe shopping, and don’t much care for high heels in general, but I’m willing to admit that Blahnik’s work has been admired by fashion critics and other designers since well before he became a household name via chickpix like Sex in the City and Legally Blonde.
Yes, Blahnik is an overhyped specialty brand that is generally more famous for being famous than for being good, which is probably what the OP meant.
But that doesn’t mean that a pair of Manolos is just the same as a similar-looking pair of shoes from Payless or Sears (except for the price, of course). He is widely regarded, by people who are considered to have expertise in the field, as a talented designer of high-quality stylish shoes. As the Design Museum’s biography of him notes,
Srsly? You have got to be fucking insane if you think this looks like something to actually wear instead of posting to Style at Cheezburger.
Although I could get away with wearing some of the torturous cockroachstomper stillettos - being in a wheelchair I wouldn’t need to totter around painfully all evening.
Ralph is experiencing the common cognitive disconnect experienced by people who consider shoes and clothes to be just something to wear and not as part of being “fashionable.”
Sigh. Those shoes that cause aruvqan to sneer cause me to sigh. They’re just lovely.
I love shoes, but I’m not intimately familiar with the high-end brands. I get emails from Ferragamo because it amuses me and I love looking, but I’d never buy. But they are beautiful.
Sigh.
And anyway, designer does not equal crazy unwearable heel. Sensible shoe.
I think the shoes are lovely but there isn’t a shoe in the world that’s worth $600 to me.
Hmmm… So if you went into some massive shoe store like DSW and tore all the labels off the women’s shoes on display and then threw a handful of Manolo Blahnicks into the mix (sans labels) would you really be able to pick out the MBs?
Yes. You would absolutely be able to. There is no contest between the quality of the OK shoes they sell at a store like DSW and actual high-end shoes like Ferragamo. I would be able to because I used to work in a shoe store, but I have no doubt that anyone who’s reasonably familiar with shoes would also be able to.
I agree. Not even a pair of shoes!
Nyah! Miss Snarky. 
Okay, shoe lover checking in.
While I think Blahnicks are aesthetically beautiful in design, in terms of practicality, the shoes are crap. I would never pay upwards of $500 for shoes that are designed to hurt my feet.
I’m a huge fan of Steve Maddens and Madden Girls.
One thing I’ve learned – from wearing 6" platform heels from time to time – is that the design of the shoe matters. Ultra high heels are not hurty if they are designed properly. What’s proper design? Well, the heel is closer to the ball of the foot for one thing. The angle of the heel, where the thick part is in relation to your foot, and how far toward the back of your heel the shoe heel is set makes all the difference in the world.
I’ve worn 2" heels that kill my feet because they’re designed poorly. I’ve worn 6" heels that I can dance in all night because they are designed to distribute your weight in such a way as to not cause leg and back pain. Poorly designed heels pitch your weight forward on your toes (which really aren’t designed to support your body weight like that) and will force you to arch your back and pop out your T&A just to balance. If the heel is set right on the shoe, your spine stays nice and straight and it’s just a matter of walking heel-toe, heel-toe without your ankles wobbling (and you can build strength in your ankles in many different ways to avoid the wobble).
Also, proper stretching on a daily basis helps prevent shortening of the Achilles tendon and the calf muscles, which result in terrible lower back pain over time. (I also change things up a lot and wear different heel heights every day.) I don’t know how to mitigate developing bunions, so if anyone has any advice on that which does not include “Don’t wear heels, dipshit,” then I’m all ears.
Yes. The design is very distinctive.
I could pick out Steve Madden shoes out of a lineup as well.
I tend to anyway. I might go shoe shopping and just look at the shoes on display, not paying any attention to the boxes underneath on the shelves. I spot several shoes I like, pick 'em up, and look down to discover that, once again, I have zeroed in on the Steve Maddens. I have, like, Steve Madden radar. I think it’s one of my superpowers.
Steve Maddens are also pretty dang comfortable. I have a pair with 3" heels that feel better than my Birkenstocks, which make my calves ache.
I’m grateful that my aesthetic aversion to shoes with pointed toes takes Manolo Blahniks off the menu for me.
If you have to ask, you’re single, and thus don’t deserve an answer, because you’re not paying for them. Find an older, wiser married man and ask him…
Slightly modified version of the designer’s birth name (Manuel Blahnik Rodriguez), but not “made up”. Note that “Blahnik” is his father’s surname, while “Rodriguez” is his mother’s. (A friend of mine in grade school had the surname “Blahnik”.)
Yeah, I hate pointy toes too. First, they cause ingrown toenails. But they always scream “witchy” to me, so I never buy 'em or wear 'em. I can admire Blahniks from afar, lust over the heel design and the clean, pretty lines… but I agree with you. Those pointy toes are a dealbreaker.
Most of these shoes look either ugly or absurd to me, on par with clown shoes, not beautiful at all. I am a female, yes, I am, but I grew up on a farm, and have been a walker and hiker and even a runner most of my life, so comfort and utility mean everything.