HEAD OVER HEELS

Marie Antoinette superfan Manolo Blahnik tells Laura Craik why he didn't hesitate when asked to sponsor the V&A's new exhibition

- 

It’s a testament to Manolo Blahnik’s joie de vivre that, at the age of 82, he has retained the sunny exuberance of a child.

As is his new collection, an exclusive capsule of 11 designs created to celebrate Marie Antoinette, the controversial French queen who is the subject of a major new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Mr Blahnik has been a fan since childhood, his interest piqued by his mother reading him Stefan Zweig’s 1932 biography as a rather unconventional bedtime story. The queen’s aesthetic has been an obsession ever since, informing 50 years’ worth of his designs.

In fact, the exhibition is something of a full-circle moment for Mr Blahnik, who started his career by studying 18th-century shoes in the V&A’s archives. He didn’t hesitate when approached to sponsor the exhibition.

THE QUEEN’S SILK SLIPPERS

When Sofia Coppola directed her Oscar-winning 2006 film Marie Antoinette, she approached Mr Blahnik to design the shoes. These, along with 250 other objects — many never seen before outside Versailles and France — are on display, including the queen’s own silk slippers, jewels from her private collection and couture pieces by Dior, Chanel and Vivienne Westwood.

Like any dedicated Marie Antoinette fan, the first thing Mr Blahnik wants to do is set the record straight. He’s certainly in a strong position to do so.