1972
Originally designed for an Ossie Clark fashion show, the “Cherry” shoe was inspired by a woman Blahnik noticed when he was a boy: “She had these espadrilles and they wrapped around her leg up to the knee,” he recalls. Suede leaves and cherries were his take on the design, which he reprised in 1997. “We’re doing it again next spring,” he says of the shoe. “If people still like it, why not give it to them?”
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1974
Blahnik honors his close friend and mentor, Italian writer and style icon Anna Piaggi, with a bold, art deco design (above) in keeping with the late editor’s eye-popping style. “I always wanted her approval,” he says of Piaggi, who died earlier this year. “I adored her.”
1974
Blahnik is the first man to grace the cover of British Vogue, alongside Anjelica Huston.
1977
Escorted by a naked man, Bianca Jagger arrives at Studio 54 on horseback, wearing Manolo Blahnik sandals.
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1979
Blahnik opens his first US boutique on Madison Avenue.
1987
Blahnik opens a boutique in Bergdorf Goodman.
1990
Blahnik is named Accessory Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
1994
Manolo Blahnik pumps are named a “classic” by Vogue, among such style stalwarts as the Hermès Kelly bag and the Chanel suit. “The best shoes are always the very simple ones,” he tells The Post.
1994
Princess Di (above) wears a pair of Manolo pumps to a Serpentine Gallery benefit in London.
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1998
“Sex and the City” airs, making Manolo Blahnik a household name. The extent of Carrie’s devotion is demonstrated two years later in Season 3 when she’s left shoeless in a downtown alley after a mugger points a gun at her feet and demands, “And your Manolo Blahniks,” to which she politely replies, “Please, sir, they’re my favorite pair!”
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2001
Carrie Bradshaw has an overzealous reaction to the “Campari” Mary Janes she finds in the Vogue shoe closet in Season 3. “It’s nothing new,” says Blahnik of the simple shoe, which he debuted in 1994. In fact, they’re the type Field would never discard. “When I look at my shoe collection, the Manolos from 20 years ago are still there, because they’re classic and they have intrinsic beauty,” she says. “They don’t go out of style.”
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2002
Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez both wear the $690 Timberland-inspired “Oklamod” booties in music videos, sparking a pop-culture-fueled mania. “It was my idea of Americana,” says Blahnik. “[I’ll be] grateful till I drop for what America has done for me.”
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2003
The single-girl shoe — the “Sedaraby” d’Orsay — is, well, singled out. In the Season 6 episode “A Woman’s Right to Shoes,” Carrie’s pair goes missing at a friend’s house. In response, she declares that she’s marrying herself in order to recoup them as a wedding gift. “They were presented as an emotional object,” says Field. “They took on a life of their own.”
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2004 Renée Zellweger wears a pair of the “Tuccio” pumps to the 2004 Academy Awards, where she wins an Oscar for her role in “Cold Mountain.”
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2008
The “Something Blue” becomes the wedding shoe du jour. “My shoes have no time,” Blahnik says, citing this satin, rhinestone buckleadorned pair (for a steep $945) as an example. Since Bradshaw wore them on her big day with Big in the first “SATC” movie, they’ve been many a-bride’s something blue.
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2011
Blahnik customizes a version of his popular “Godichefac” sandal for bride-to-be (and longtime pal) Kate Moss, telling Women’s Wear Daily, “We did them five times to get them the way she wanted.”
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2012
For Bergdorf Goodman’s 111th anniversary, Blahnik designed the $7,800 “Lacelimi” crystal-covered satin bootie. “I did it without thinking about what it was for,” he says, “and if I work that way, it comes out nice.”
2012
The British Fashion Council recognizes Blahnik with the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award.
