Manolo Blahnik is offering free coloring pages of his shoes
Manolo Blahnik is one of the many fashion designers joining in the fight against the current global health crisis. However, he’s taking a slightly different approach.
The well-known brand — popularized by its frequent appearances in Carrie Bradshaw’s closet on “Sex and The City” — has introduced a new initiative in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation that basically lets fashion-lovers design their own pair of shoes.
As a fashion lover, I was excited to see some of the brand’s most-known and coveted silhouettes. The actual downloads have been stripped of color so that people can reinterpret the shoes however they’d like, and all the designs can be downloaded from the Manolo Blahnik website as part of the Smile The Art of Colouring campaign.
Coloring books and pages have only recently become a trendy activity for adults. According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a mental health profession in which the process of making and creating artwork is used to “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.”
Although coloring and art therapy are not the same thing, there are still many mental benefits to the former. “Coloring definitely has therapeutic potential to reduce anxiety, create focus or bring [about] more mindfulness,” Marygrace Berberian, a certified art therapist and the Clinical Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for the Graduate Art Therapy Program at NYU, told CNN Health.
Below are the shoe designs from the fashion house — and a bit of history shared about each shoe from the website. You can download all the coloring sheets on the site and share your creation on Instagram using #ManoloBlahnikSmiles.
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “The Toubid sandals pay homage to the wildly intricate illustrations of Ernst Haeckel, a 19th century philosopher, professor, physician, biologist and artist. Haeckel published hundreds of drawings of flora and fauna, and Manolo looked to those of seaweed and algae to create the graduated curved shapes running along the straps.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “Designed and worn daily by Manolo Blahnik himself, particularly during the 1980s and still on occasion to this day, the Manolo is a longstanding house favourite. It was also the first of Manolo’s men’s designs that he translated into a women’s style. He ‘shrunk the shoe’ especially for the Isaac Mizrahi, Spring Summer ‘93 runway show in New York.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “To honour the English countryside and all its beauty, Manolo created the Lyonnia sandals adorned with pink garden roses, a favourite of Blahnik’s and his friend, photographer Cecil Beaton. Beaton had a shared passion for gardens, seen particularly in his later portraits, where he cut flowers in bloom from his own garden and use them to create wonderful still life settings.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “Often inspired by fellow artists, Manolo was moved by the colour palette used by British figurative painter Francis Bacon for the aptly named Bacon pumps. His dark colours are represented in the graphic polka dots and favourite Phoenician Red appears on the sculpted edge of this elegant style.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “The regal Lentiga pumps are a tribute to romanticism painter and printmaker, Francisco Goya. Appointed Court Painter in the 1770s to the Spanish Royal Court, Goya was commissioned for endless portraits of nobility in his time. The artist was well known for paying special attention to faces and footwear in his works, always fully expressive and detailed.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “For the Margolina slingbacks, Manolo looked to the June 1962 edition of British Vogue which was Jean Shrimpton’s first cover for the magazine. It was photographed by David Bailey and showed only a glimpse of the model’s eye beneath an extravagant daisy-covered hat.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “The sculptural Odalisca sandals tap into Manolo’s passion for ancient Greek culture in the time of Alexander the Great. This bold style is drawn from the distinctive forms and recognisable terracotta and black colour palette of the painted ceramic vases signature to this time.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “Wholecut Oxford shoe, Henley is inspired by Manolo’s love of Africa. This began with the classic Moroccan music he would listen to as a child and is translated here in the fine zebra print calf hair material.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “The Tortura style is Manolo’s love letter to Sicily, a constant source of inspiration and one of his favourite places to visit time and time again. The magnificent combination of coral and vibrant colours sums up his passion for the island.”
Credit: Manolo Blahnik
According to the site: “Botanicals are a constant focus for Manolo. Acanthus is inspired by the plant of the same name, native to his childhood home in the Canary Islands, another recurring reference point. The impressive spread of leaves and towering spire of its flowers were used to create this whimsical silhouette including the heel.”
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