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May 31 2007 9:00AM EDT

Manolo Blahnik Goes Online

The news that Manolo Blahnik has launched his own internet site, www.manoloblahnik.com, made me just a little bit sad. He was one of, if not the last of the fashion hold-outs. When I began writing online about fashion in 1996, 'email' and 'internet' were dirty words. Fax was about as high tech as most fashion companies were able to speak. The Blahnik workers had really cute emails that said THEIRNAMEManolo@aol.com and steadfastly refused to go online. I'm not sure what led to the change of heart, but it does make it easier for fans to admire the man and his work, which was celebrated at an exhibition in London's Design Museum and in several beautiful books. On the site are his illustrations, which are works of art in and of themselves, going back to the very first shoe. The site doesn't do anything fancy like let you buy shoes, but he told Vogue.com that he'll be penning a blog.

One of the things it will do is show his customers in the US what they're missing. The styles on offer there tend to be far more conservative than what we're offered in Europe, due in part to the fact that there the bulk of sales are to department stores versus the rest of the world where he and his sister can more closely control what is sold. It is a situation I know grates him, which might be one reason that the list of Where To Buy Blahniks in the US includes only his shops in Las Vegas and Manhattan and neglects to mention a little chain known as Neiman Marcus.

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