Name: Mehak Tazeem
Roll No. 10-161
Assignment No: 5
Submit To: Ma’am Asmarah
Manolo Blanik

Shoes, same as clothing need their own designer. In the fashion world there are several names that left a lasting mark on the industry for both shoes and clothing. Despite the many “youngsters” some of the older generation will always be on the first line, first to instruct the young and second to remind customers that classic has no age.
We will introduce you to the most famous shoe designers whom since their inception and market penetration have left a lasting trail to follow and be recognizable. Their shoes are expensive, qualitative and wearing them, mean that your standard of living is high.
We start with Manolo Blahnik. Name which some of us can hear only on those elaborate series in which the character necessarily has 2-3, and why not 20 pairs of these shoes.
His career began exactly 30 years ago. During this time, his shoes have come a long evolutionary path, and what is more important, today he is the most amazing shoe designer who can easily win the heart of every woman.
Born to a Czech father and a Spanish mother and raised in the Canary Islands (Spain), Blahnik graduated from the University of Geneva in 1965 and studied art in Paris. He moved to London in 1968 to work at fashion boutique "Zapata" and wrote for Vogue Italia. After showing his portfolio of fashions and set designs to Diana Vreeland, she told him that he should design only footwear. In 1972, Ossie Clark invited him to create shoes for his runway show. With a loan of £2,000, Blahnik bought Zapata from its owner and opened his own boutique.
In the 1970s, when chunky platform shoes and boots were the mainstream footwear styling of the day, Manolo Blahnik turned back his attention to the stiletto heel, which has remained the brand's mainstay to this day. Manolo Blahnik shoes have rapidly become a symbol of pure classical style for the 21st century.
Manolo Blahnik's flagship store remains to date in Old Church Street in the fashionable Chelsea district of London.
Blahnik's boutiques are located in London, New York, Las Vegas, Dublin, Athens, Madrid, Istanbul, Dubai, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Stockholm. Bloomingdales (for which he created his first American collection), Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Barneys,Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue carry his line in the United States and newly opened in Dubai Mall. The company has signed a long-term deal with the shoewear retailer Kurt Geiger to operate Manolo Blahnik boutiques.
Blahnik was elevated to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2007 Blahnik was appointed as an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order British Empire for his service to the British fashion industry.
Blahnik currently resides in Bath, United Kingdom and was awarded an honorary degree from Bath Spa University in July 2012

This Spanish fashion designer knows what he is doing when it comes to shoes. He designs every one of the thousands of shoes he has put out there. His business dates back to the 70's while working in London. Some incorporate his shoes into the favorite made by Carrie Bradshaw in the well-loved HBO series Sex And The City. And he has done it all without any training! How inspirational is that? It all started when in the 70's, the utterly chunky heel was in style, and Manolo focused his attention on the stiletto heel and the rest is history. He got noticed for his classic, elegant shoes and is now a major world-wide staple for many closets.
In the words of Lady Gaga in her song Fashion, "Merde, I Love Those Manolo's."

This achievement is all the more remarkable given that Blahnik, like an old school haut couturier, is solely responsible for the design and prototype of every shoe that bears his name. Working alone without apprentices or assistants, he sketches his shoes, chisels the wooden lasts on which they are moulded and sculpts the heels. He then supervises their production and even sketches the illustrations for his advertising campaigns. He has achieved all this without any formal training in shoe-making. “I didn’t need it,” Blahnik told his friend Michael Roberts only half-jokingly in the late 1970s, “because I’ve got the best taste in the world.”

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Manolo learned the art of making shoes with the help of the studies he made in different shoes factories, from the conversations with the operators of shoe machines, leather handlers, finishers and technicians. Manolo Blahnik is synonymous with quality and style. His love for shoes and making women happy won him so much glory. Of course, his talent makes a difference. His words are: “Shoes, they transform the woman.” This logo can be seen on each of his shops

It was a belief that shoes were the least noticeable of a persons’ attire, particularly in women. Fashion consisted of dressing oneself up in top designer wear but with little attention to what you drape up your feet in. All these changed when Jimmy Choo entered the scene. Shoes designed by Jimmy Choo became a fashion statement. All of a sudden, the fashionable lot found that a perfectly well crafted shoe could transform your personality. No doubt, shoes then also were expensive and stylish. What he did was to bring art and class to the shoes. He single handedly changed the perception of people towards shoes from an afterthought to a fashionable accessory. Jimmy Choo is credited with bringing the gaze to the feet; and keeping it over there. It is said that with a pair of Jimmy Choo’s you don’t even need the clothes. This shows the tremendous effect that Jimmy Choo had on the fashion conscious. All those who are something or vying to be something, sport a pair of Jimmy Choo’s, as shutters and eyeballs turn in plenty.
Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat born in 1961 in Penang, Malaysia. The son of a shoe cobbler, Choo was immersed in the world of shoemaking from an early age. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and by age 11, Choo had made his first pair of shoes.
"When I first started, my father wouldn't let me make a shoe. Instead, he said: "Sit and watch, sit and watch." For months and months, I did that." (Jimmy Choo)
After learning from his father about the craft of shoemaking, Choo made his way to England in the early 1980s to study at the Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, where he graduated with honors in 1983.

Choosing to remain in England, Choo opened his first shop in Hackney in 1986 in an old hospital building. It didn't take long for Choo's reputation to build. Within two years of opening his shop, Choo's shoes were featured in an eight-page spread in Vogue magazine.
Soon, Choo became the darling of the celebrity world, in particular Princess Diana, who donned Choo's footwear seemingly everywhere she went. But it was his relationship with Vogue that would prove to be instrumental in the rise of the Jimmy Choo brand. Despite the rise of his popularity, Choo was still a small operation, making just 20 hand-made pairs shoes a week. But Tamara Yeardye Mellon, an accessories editor at Vogue, who often hired Choo to make shoes for fashion shoots, sensed a larger market for Choo's creations. She approached the shoemaker about partnering to create a line of ready-to-wear footwear.
Together, Choo and Mellon quickly grew the business, keeping the focus on creating high-end footwear, but no longer relying on the idea that every single pair had to be made by Choo himself. They contracted with Italian factories and opened their first boutique shop in London.
By the late 1990s, Choo had stores in Los Angeles and New York and lineup of adoring Hollywood celebrities that included Julia Roberts and Renee Zellweger.

By the turn of the century, the Choo name was a global brand, with high-end retail clients that included Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue carrying Choo footwear. The Choo brand had also expanded to handbags and other accessories.
But in the background, all was not well. Choo and Mellon were at odds about the direction of the company. In what would become one of the more fascinating rifts in the fashion industry, Choo didn't think bigger was better. He questioned the quality of the shoes the company was making, and seemed too long for the days when he was back at his shop in Hackney making a small number of pieces of footwear for specific clients.
In 2001, Choo sold his half of the company to Robert Bensoussan of Equinox Luxury Holdings for $30 million.
Today, Jimmy Choo has returned to his roots at a small shop he opened in London, which serves as the headquarters for the exclusive Jimmy Choo Couture line.
His passion for his work can be gauged from an incident, where it is said that he once worked non-stop for three days and nights, sewing beads on shoes in preparation for a show.
Jimmy Choo is the recipient of numerous awards, the most famous being the Malaysian state award conferred by the Sultan of Pahang state with the title of Dato. He was also conferred the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, for his services to the fashion industry. He also holds the title Professor, awarded to him by the University of the Arts, London. The Jimmy Choo shoe styles are varied. The day styles include the leather mules, pumps, boots and sling backs. The evening styles consist mostly of those designs that rise up the sex appeal. They are more elegant and unique. The most famous are the strappy sandals and those with beaded gems. He also designs leather bags the styles of which range from leather totes to hobo bags.

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COMAPRISON
High-end women's shoes
If you've ever caught an episode or two of Sex and the City, you probably remember a reference or two to Manolo Blahnik or Jimmy Choo. Were one of those Mr. Big's real name? Not quite, although Carrie Bradshaw was probably just as enamored of them as she was of her tall, dark and handsome boyfriend.
In reality, Manolo Blahnik is a Spanish shoe designer (his father was Czech, hence the very unSpanish name), and Jimmy Choo is a shoe firm headed by a British woman (although historically actually owned by a couture shoemaker whose original name was Jimmy Chow). Both have been the darlings of shoe lovers in recent years.
However, Sex and the City has come to a close, Carrie's with Mr. Big, and women still want shoes. Really nice ones. So the question is which of these designers is hotter? Which is making the trendier shoe? Which is cobbling the strappy sandals, slingbacks, stilettos and pumps that have women everywhere swooning?

Jimmy Choo
Founded in 1996, Jimmy Choo hasn't been around as long as other luxury shoe brands, but quickly gained popularity and won the hearts of women everywhere. Jimmy Choos are frequently spotted on the red carpet, the big screen and the small screen. Choo heels have been featured in "Sex and the City," "The Devil Wears Prada" and "The Sopranos." They are known for their distinctive hues and bright colors. The signature style is satin sandals.
Manolo Blahnik
Manolo Blahnik has been designing shoes since 1971. With a focus on detail and materials, Blahnik's shoes often utilize fur, coral, sequins, rhinestones and other embellishments. Blahnik himself still designs his shoes by hand and gains inspiration from movies, people, nature and places. In April 2011, Blahnik entered into a collaboration with TOUS, which features jewellery inspired by his iconic shoes.

CONCLUSION
I do not own either at this point. They are both considered to be 'high end' or premium designers, which generally puts them in the luxury price range. My understanding is that Blahnik's were almost a fashion 'secret' for ladies in the know - prior to SATC. They both have excellent reputations for style and quality. As for comfort, feet are shaped so differently from person to person that if at all possible you need to get an opportunity to go out & treat yourself to an all-day shopping exploration of the designers and styles you are drawn to. Since each designer has their own set of 'lasts' (shoe forms), the fit can vary drastically for each individual.
Perhaps one of the folks on here who has had an opportunity to try on these designers could give some more detailed information on their fit & general shape (ie, narrow, true to size/TTS, high or low arch, etc).
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It's all about preference! I like both Choo and Blahnik, different styles you know. As far as comfort well that depends on the inches of the heel and how long you're standing, but again some people have no problem.