“Sultan of slippers, holy man of heels – all superlatives are justified for Manolo Blahnik,” decreed Vogue in 2008. It says something for the maestro’s staying power – and stubborn independence in an age of luxury conglomerates – that he retains his position as the world’s greatest shoemaker.
Manolo Rodriguez Blahnik “has achieved the type of fashion immortality where even his childhood nickname is a noun”, says the Financial Times. “Women