Impossible platforms, sharp heels, comfortable ballerina flats, rock’n’roll ankle boots … Although we can´t avoid falling surrendered to each season´s proposals, there are certain items that have been there forever: these are classic shoes, those shoes crying a perennial space as part of our wardrobe essentials. As Carry Bradshaw said in ‘Sex and the City’: “Take my ring and my watch, but please do not take my Manolo Blahniks.”
And is that designer Manolo Blahnik has put his name on the lips of the most recalcitrant fashionistas of the planet to become the epitome of “Spanish”, prosaically speaking- his name, Manolo- has become synonymous with sophistication, with the beautiful and with the feminine internationally. For nearly 40 years, his famous shoes have been worn by women all around the world.
This obsession withshoesis not something new, since the obsession with shoes showed by Hollywooddivasof the 50s already seemed promising. Thegreat example isBrigitteBardot,who foundan allyon the platformsto show her beautifullegs.Today, Fashionrecovers them as a trend. Just as it happened withthe greatAudreyHepburnin the 50´sorstarlettCarmenMirandain the 30´s. Thus, passion for complements is innate for divas back thenand women now.
After platforms, many others have left the world of the ephemeral to become part of that universe, as remote as tangible, formed by eternal shoes. From the comfortable elegance of the bicolor Chanel ballerinas flats to the most fetishistic feelings, awaken by the red- soled Pigalle of Christian Louboutin; through the influence of Yves Saint Laurent Tribute, the gritty sandals; or the classic square buckle shoe popularized by Catherine Deneuve in the film ‘Belle de Jour‘, considered the most imitated of all times.
All these iconic shoes have been made from leather, from smooth napa type leather- calfskin, lambskin, or goatskin- and laminated, patent and costume leather, in which Acabados Abellán is an expert. Soft textures, flexible, semi brilliant textures, which makes them ideal for the manufacturing of shoes. The dongolas leather from goatskin, also used for dress shoes, as they can give them lots of gloss. These are very fine leather items and therefore, very flexible for these type of manufacturing. The best one is called tafilete, small and fine-grained. Cowhides, however, are deep, strong and slightly oiled, which makes them the most suitable ones for making sport shoes.
Lambskin shoes, calfskin shoes, goatskin shoes…it does not matter where they come from: the shoes are objects of worship, almost fetishistic, which arouse an instinctive, primal reaction that sends us one message: “I need it“. They are seductive and elegant, somewhat painful at times, but always infallible. They save a black dress from the clutches of boredom and transform a pair of jeans into a sophisticated garment.
