{"id":1280,"date":"2021-12-27T11:40:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T11:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/fashion\/the-manolo-blahnik-boots-that-changed-candace-bushnells-life\/"},"modified":"2021-12-27T11:41:20","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T11:41:20","slug":"the-manolo-blahnik-boots-that-changed-candace-bushnells-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/fashion\/the-manolo-blahnik-boots-that-changed-candace-bushnells-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Manolo Blahnik Boots That Changed Candace Bushnell\u2018s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If <\/em><\/em>Sex and the City If there were a shoe that was the Manolo, it would undoubtedly be it. The footwear and the best-selling book-turned hit series are both very chic at 400 dollars a piece, thanks to Candace Bushnell, author and creator.<\/em>,<\/em>Carrie Bradshaw is a real-life Carrie Bradshaw and a self-confessed shoe lover, just like her curly-haired protagonist.<\/em> In her new one-woman show <\/em>\u201c<\/em>Is There Still Sex in The City?\u201d <\/em>The Daryl Roth Theatre<\/em>,<\/em> Bushnell boldly declares, \u201cDo I have a shoe obsession like Carrie Bradshaw? No. Carrie Bradshaw has a shoe obsession because of me.\u201d It all started with one specific pair that <\/em>\u201cchanged her life<\/em>\u201d<\/em>\u2014the black patent leather knee-high boots that she wore to her interview with <\/em>The New York ObserverThis was what led to her landing the infamous <\/em>column, which led <\/em><\/em>To the book, then to the TV show, and so forth. <\/em> <\/p>\n

In ELLE\u2019s series Clothes of Our Lives, we decode the sartorial choices made by powerful women, and explore how fashion can be used as a tool for communication. Bushnell explains the process in her own words. <\/em>She recalls how (what else?) her future was forever changed. A pair of Manolos. <\/em><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a very Sex and the City <\/em>story. I have a girlfriend\u2014I called her Amalita Amalfi\u2014and she was one of my many friends who I had started writing about in the \u201880s, which is when I started writing about my Samantha, my Charlotte, my Miranda, and dozens of other women.<\/p>\n

Not everything that\u2019s on the TV show is entirely accurate, but [Amalita]is a close friend of mine and was a Real<\/em> fashionista. She was obsessed with shoes and clothes. Manolo Blahnik wasn\u2019t really known outside of fashion circles at the time, and she was just crazy about them. One day\u2014coincidentally, when I was going to interview for a column at The New York Observer\u2014<\/em>She called me and told me that she had received these incredible boots and that I needed to rush to Manolo to get them. She was like, \u201cThese boots are gonna be Magic<\/em>. You\u2019ll see. If you get these boots, your life will change.\u201d She wasn\u2019t kidding. <\/p>\n

Given that New York is a place where everyone needs a little luck, I set out to find them. They were black patent leather boots with pointy toes and were super chic. They were miraculously able to make them in my size. They cost $600, which was a lot at the time. It is hard to believe that these boots would now cost $1,500. <\/p>\n

Back in the \u201890s, New York was a place where your shoes really mattered, because people judged you by your shoes. There was a saying that when you went into a restaurant, the maitre d\u2019 would look at your shoes. Designer was only available in Manhattan, London, Paris, or Chicago. It\u2019s not like today where it\u2019s everywhere. It was a sign that you belonged to this elite group of people \u201cin the know.\u201d Those kinds of things were important signifiers. Fashion doesn\u2019t work like that anymore. Everything is easier to find. <\/p>\n

I think [Amalita]I always hoped to meet a man of society. I got the boots instead and did an interview with him. The Observer <\/em>to be a gossip columnist. I literally carried the shoes around in my shopping bag! I didn’t get the job so I put the boots aside and the editor-in chief called me to offer me my own column. I donned the boots to my first piece and went to Le Trapeze sex club. There, a photographer took a photo of me standing on top a pile of garbage with a towel. That was the beginning. Sex and the City<\/em>. They did bring me luck, I’m sure.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The 1994 Observer <\/em>Story featuring <\/em>Candace Bushnell outside Le Trapeze wearing her Manolo Blahnik boots.<\/figcaption>Courtesy Candace Bushnell<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The story was called \u201cSwingin\u2019 Sex? I Don\u2019t Think So …\u201d Before I went to Le Trapeze, I went to a dinner for Karl Lagerfeld at Bowery Bar. I wore my boots there as well.\u2014<\/em>They worked for society and sex. They did it all!<\/p>\n

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When I bought the boots, I remember the saleswoman telling me, \u201cThese are Amazing<\/em>.\u201d They were definitely The<\/em>Hot boot, and my first pair Manolos. Imagine a three-and-a-half-inch heel with a zipper at the back that goes all the way to the knee. They were my favorite pair of shoes. Everything<\/em>Even black-tie events. You had to be able to walk in it, and I was able to do that. a lot <\/em>These shoes are my favorite. I even had rubber soles fitted to them. They were my go-to for many years. <\/p>\n

Twenty-seven years later, I still have the boots\u2014they\u2019re even a prop in my show. I have always kept them since I wore them on my first assignment. I always thought, \u201cSomeday, people are going to realize that these boots are Special<\/em>. These boots were made to be worn by women. Writing<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n

The opening lines Sex and the City<\/em> are about single women: \u201cThey travel, they pay taxes, they\u2019ll spend $400 on a pair of Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals.\u201d It\u2019s still true. <\/p>\n

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and condensed. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: elle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Sex and the City If there were a shoe that was the Manolo, it would undoubtedly be it. The footwear and the best-selling book-turned hit series are both very chic at 400 dollars a piece, thanks to Candace Bushnell, author and creator.,Carrie Bradshaw is a real-life Carrie Bradshaw and a self-confessed shoe lover, just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1283,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions\/1283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenmag.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}