Me and My Manolo’s.

A few weeks ago while perusing the Sunday Times Style I came across an article about iconic shoe maker Manolo Blahnik, after reading about the fashion legend and his new book I saw that there was a competition to win one of his original sketches!

Instantly my mind went into dream sequence mode, me and the Manolo sketch snuggled up watching the latest season of The Walking Dead, or the pair of us running hand in hand through an Austrian meadow, my Sound of Music dress being caressed by a light Tyrollean breeze as we frolicked in the fresh air. I was brought out of my reverie by the competition rules, upload an instagram picture with the hashtag #meandmymanolos, plus a fifty word description and a winner would be picked from the entries.

I mused over my image choice for a few days and carried out some research on Mr Blahnik, he sketches the shoe designs himself and chisels the first wooden last for each shoe which is incredible. Among his many achievements he also invented the swan pump! The swan pump got me thinking and I decided to illustrate my competition entry which you can see below next to the hand drawn sketch by Manolo Blahnik.

I uploaded my illustration and waited, constantly checking the hashtag to see who else had entered and feverishly reloading and refreshing the Sunday Times Style Instagram feed. While lying in bed a few Sundays ago while watching The Walking Dead with my beloved and our cats Frida & Diego I checked my Instagram feed…

LO AND BEHOLD I HAD WON THE COMPETITION!!! Not only that but Manolo Blahnik himself had picked my entry as the winner! We all leapt out of bed and did a victorious swan pump dance, the cats aren’t great at dancing on their back legs so we propped them up. The sketch will be framed and have pride of place in our living room and every time I look at it I will think what an honour it is that such an illustrious artist as Mr Blahnik picked my illustration himself and that in turn we have a piece of original fashion history adorning our walls.

I’m booking the flights to Austria next week and have made my wife and the cats some lederhosen out of the curtains.

 

MANOLO