I ♥ Manolo Blahnik
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the first ever Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize grand final held in the opulent Orchid Room at London’s Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane, where Montreal native Thomas Tait scooped the award, to his utter astonishment and delight.
The highlight of my evening was interviewing the shoe design legend, Manolo Blahnik, who was on the judging panel for the award. I may have had just a few minutes with the great cobbler but he left quite an impression on me. What a sweetie. The lovable Spaniard was unpretentious, humble and charming. He told me about the nervousness he felt judging a competition full of such talented young designers and his bemusement at one journalist’s question about him perhaps becoming involved in a much bigger X Factor-style event in the future.
“Oh no, no, absolutely not,” he shrieked, fluttering his hand fan. “I would hate to be a judge on the X Factor, this is nerve-wracking enough for me. Everyone here is so talented, it was such a hard decision to choose just one winner.”
When pressed about how he started out in his design career, he talked of his sadness that some talented designers may not be as lucky as him and that many don’t have the money to set up a business and succeed in the fashion industry.
“It’s paramount that these types of awards exist because it’s the only way young designers can start a business with any creative freedom," he explains. "When I started out I didn’t have any backing and I just went around asking people for help. I was never motivated by money, I just loved designing shoes. It took me years to learn my trade and, yes, I have since become successful. But I’m so grateful for that.”
It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
Read my news story to find out more about last night's Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize event.
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