Shoe News

August 2019

An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik - at the Wallace Collection, London until 1 September

Beauty vs the Sublime - Manolo Blahnik's Enquiring Mind shoe exhibition at London's Wallace Collection 

until September 1st, 2019.

Manolo Blahnik needs no introduction, and if you're spending this August in London, there is still time to visit the celebrated Wallace Collection where its galleries of unrivalled 18th century collections form a sympathetic backdrop for a carefully curated selection of Blahnik's shoes.  

Blahnik who has established himself as one of the world's foremost shoe designers is having his wonderful creative works on show at this amazing venue because he has long used the Wallace Collection's paintings, furniture, porcelain, sculpture and works of art for inspiration.

The exhibition: "An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik" which was co-curated by the footwear guru himself and Wallace Collection Director Dr Xavier Bray, help lead visitors on an inspiring journey of enquiry around the Wallace Collection's great works.

Illustration by Manolo Blahnik for London Fashion Week unveiled by the British Fashion Council
as the evemt's creative imagery in 2013.

The Spanish designer’s greatest designs are intimately on display inside bell-shaped jars amongst the masterpieces of the Wallace Collection.  

Blahnik had personally selected the exhibits from the private archives that document his 50-year career.   Each gallery has been assigned a theme that finds its expression in the shoes.

The Wallace Collection, comprising an extensive collection of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with important holdings of French 18th century paintings, furniture, arms and armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 30 galleries, is housed at Hertford House in Manchester Square, London, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford.

All photos © Lucia Carpio 2019