Manolo Blahnik: The high priest of heels talks flats, Englishness, and why he loves Mary Beard

The shoe designer who has been dubbed 'the patron saint of the stiletto'

Blahnik says: 'I think I understand the English more than they do themselves' (Thom Atkinson/Corbis Outline)

The photographer Horst said that "the only real male elegance was English". What do you think of English style?

I think England 'made me', in the sense of taste, and likes. Sometimes I think I understand the English more than they do themselves as an observer... I've been an outsider but I feel young here. England has been a continuous education.

What is so special about Englishness in your view?

You don't give a damn, and do whatever you want to do. English girls have fantasy, create a puzzle, they have the fashion, they don't copy it or anybody.

Where do you look for ideas?

Anywhere. But now I'm doing very classical things, I am having a moment of Mary Beard – fascinating – I find her so inspiring. There are a few women in England I go mad for; it's not fashion, but when she opens her mouth, thousands of marvellous facts come out of her.

Shall we talk about heels?

Oh, I was going to talk about Mr [Irving] Penn... He photographed me in 2002 for The New Yorker and said to me, "Do you have heels in your shop or office?". And I said, "Yes I do sir". He asked, "What is the best way to photograph the heel?". In the picture I am holding the heel in ecstasy, like Saint Teresa... it's one of my favourite photographs.

Did you meet Horst?

The first time I met him was at Oyster Bay, with André [Leon Talley, former editor-at-large on American Vogue]. When we arrived we asked, "Where is Mr Horst?" and they said he was in the pool, naked – he used to swim nude every day, even if it was freezing! He had the most amazing house, one of those long flat houses in Long Island... and he'd say, "You see those things there? Gabrielle [Chanel] gave these things to me". The house was divine, elegant, but not even one picture of him inside, just paintings, mementoes and things.

What do you think about people wearing flat shoes?

I think, why not? I love flat shoes – the only thing is you have to be very, very beautiful or very, very feminine... or both! I love tiny girls with flat shoes, it's the chic-est thing, like Daphne du Maurier in flat shoes walking on the beach in Cornwall. She looks fabulous.

Who do you look at now?

You have to have certain things in life to follow and inspire you... I was very fortunate I grew up in England when we had people like Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes...

You designed your first shoes for Ossie Clark back in the Seventies; what were those shows like?

Oh my God – like magic. The one I remember best was Bianca [Jagger] opened with a cane, it was crazy... I miss most of it. Ossie would say, "Do whatever you want to do," and John [Galliano] would say "The Princess was trapped in Europe and she wants to go to Scotland..." [which] doesn't say a thing about the shoes, but it's enough...

Is a brief like that inspiring?

Very... much more freedom, you get the basic idea, maybe a word, and it triggers something.

Do you send emails?

No. It's one of the things I don't do. I have an iPhone, and an iPad, but I don't like to use them.

Biography

Manolo Blahnik is a shoe designer who has been dubbed ‘the patron saint of the stiletto’. Born in 1943 to a Spanish mother and a Czech father in the Canary Islands, he produced his first collection in 1972 following the encouragement of American Vogue’s then editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland. In 2007, he was awarded a CBE for service to the fashion industry