First, for anyone who has never been to his NY HQ store, it is off the beaten path and is housed in an old brownstone. The store is downstairs and his offices are upstairs. The store is warm and inviting. As you walk through, and there weren't throngs of people there, at the back of the store, there is a terrace with a staircase that leads down to a garden. It was like being in his home. And, that is the way you are treated.
Abbey Askari, the store manager and the person I deal with, is so gracious and unpretentious. She knew I was there to get new Mary Janes as I have the original MJ's and then the 2003 edition. So, they were due for updating and the new ones are actually a twist on the old version. These are the new version of the MJs.
I am sitting comfortably on a couch and a lovely man sits down and starts talking to me. I'm chatty (no!) so I tell him I have the original MJ's blah, blah. He grabs me by the hand with my box of MJ's in my hand and drags me to the front of the store. "Manolo, Manolo, this is the original Carrie Bradshaw. She was wearing Manolos before Carrie Bradshaw knew your name." What? Mr. Blahnik takes my shoes and signs both shoes and gives me a big hug. Pictures are snapping. Turns out the man I was chatting with is none other than George Malkemus, the head of Manolo Blahnik.
So, the night goes on, I need to get to Saks but, then I realize, I have to have the "Something Blues". I tell George that they are a work of art, I start tearing up (yes, yes, I'm a fashion geek) he shoves everyone out of the way and takes me to Manolo again and tells him how emotional I am over having worn his shoes forever and yada, yada. Manolo tells Abbey to get the whatever the real name of those shoes are in my size and proceeds to write, to me, on each shoe, the most incredible sentiments. I start to tear up, he gets emotional and he tells George, "give these to her from me". What? Manolo Blahnik just gave me the Something Blues as a gift? I have to leave before I make a fool of myself. Meanwhile Vogue is photographing, Instyle asks me to step out of the picture because he never signs the Something Blues (Hangisi or something) and they want a picture, which BTW was on the internet, the NY Post. Then I notice there is a movie camera and I find out that they are filming a documentary on Manolo for Bravo. OMG, I hope I don't show up on there crying like an idiot.
Anyway, I have Abbey ship my shoes. Oh, let me preface this by saying that these people are so amazing because my Pescalare White Watersnake boots, that were my UHG had a waiter spill red wine on them and ruin them and MB offered to have a pair custom made and they were less expensive than when I originally bought them because they felt that I had already paid for them once. Who are these people? Ok, so I go to leave and George stops me and says, "I've known Manolo 30 some years and I've never seen him as touched by someone like he was touched by your appreciation for him tonight. Keep in touch." Keep in touch? OK.
You'll notice that the MJ's were worn the day they got here. The Something Blues will never be worn. They have a glass case being made to house them like the work of art that they are.
After that, everything else was, I don't know how to describe it other than to say, gray. Met Justin Timberlake, seemed to like me because I told him he was funny on SNL when he did Barry Gibb Talk Show. He really gets off on being funny. Lindsay Lohan is just weird. And skinny. I thought I was with an Olsen twin until my friend John told me it was Lindsay Lohan. SJP, Posh Becks, etc.
Tune in tomorrow for the Chanel debacle and see how a classy organization handles a major faux pas.
