LONDON – It’s a busy month for Manolo Blahnik, who has opened his first stand-alone store in Milan, and who’s preparing for a string of events later this month to mark the opening of “Marie Antoinette Style” at the Victoria and Albert Museum, of which it is the sole sponsor.
The new, two-story Milan store spans more than 1,000 square feet and is located on Via Pietro Verri in Milan’s Golden Triangle. The boutique’s design is a tribute to Blahnik’s late mother, and draws inspiration from the monochromatic aesthetic of her black-and-white tiled kitchen in Spain.
An admirer of Constantin Brâncusi, Blahnik also infused the boutique with elements inspired by the sculptor’s work, Endless Column. The column’s streamlined elegance and rhythmically repeating geometric shapes echo the look of Blahnik’s signature heels.
The store is launching with the summer and fall 2025 collections, both of which touch on many aspects that influence Blahnik’s work, from old Hollywood muses to artists and fashion photographers. Three exclusive styles will be introduced to celebrate the opening.
Every element of the boutique has been hand-selected by Blahnik, creating an “immersive experience that embodies his passion for craftsmanship, artistry and storytelling.”
Manolo Blahnik shoes are all made in Italy at the Re Marcello factory in Vigevano, near Milan. The company acquired Re Marcello in 2019, and retained the craftspeople and staff with whom they’d been working for many years.
The opening comes just as Manolo Blahnik prepares to celebrate the new Marie Antoinette show, which opens at the V&A later this week.
The brand has unveiled a 12-piece limited-edition capsule collection, reminiscent of Marie Antoinette’s iconic elaborate style, with Blahnik drawing on a variety of sources for the shoes.
For the Fontanblas style, he looked at Swedish artist Adolf Wertmüller’s 1785 portrait of Marie Antoinette. The Queen of France is depicted wearing an Ottoman inspired robe à la Turque, and the garment informed the striped design of the shoes.
The Montendy is named after the fortress that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had aimed to escape to, as they fled Paris during the French Revolution. The style references the queen’s taste in furnishings, and the rosette design is reminiscent of details on the shoes from Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film “Marie Antoinette,” which Blahnik designed, and hand-tufted.
Rohan recalls the former queen’s famous rose garden in a play on the delicate pastels of rococo. The powderpuff pink palette is also a nod her creative and well-documented use of makeup. It’s named after Louis de Rohan and his links to both the court of King Louis XVI and the infamous affair of the diamond necklace scandal in 1784-85.
The Raloisette style, with its box-pleat detailing, frayed silk-edge fringing and delicate pale green brooch, is a tribute to Marie Antoinette’s love of fine jewelry.
Manolo Blahnik will host a series of events starting later this week, including a party at Burlington Arcade in London to mark the opening of the exhibition, and a special Marie Antoinette tea at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, where Marie Antoinette took piano lessons when it was still a private residence.
