Manolo Blahnik "loves" his loyal customers who queue for his famous sales.
Manolo Blahnik
The 75-year-old shoe designer is always impressed by the dedication of women who travel for miles to stand in line to grab a bargain when he stages his annual sample sale.
He said: "We have queues and queues of young women who could be my great granddaughters. Four o'clock on the first train from, I don't know where, from Wales or something. I love those women."
The Spanish designer is upset that so many unique and "extraordinary" stores have now become generic and he wishes there was less "global nonsense" and more individuality in retail.
He said: "I feel, not nostalgic, but melancholic about certain things that are gone. For instance, Bell & Croyden used to be the most extraordinary Edwardian apothecary in London. Then I passed by the other day, and it's like a huge empty supermarket in Dallas. This is what I really get sad and furious about. Why? Why that need to change something which was perfect?
"Same with Bond Street. It could be Rome, could be Rio, could be anywhere. Now it's all Dolce & Gabbana, all that global nonsense.
"London is still beyond exotic to me. But I have never felt foreign here. I should, perhaps, because my language is not perfect, and my things are not what you'd call English. But I never felt strange here."
And Manolo is also "infuriated" by politics because it isn't beautiful enough for him.
He told the Observer magazine: "Everything's political now which I find is very, very infuriating. I don't care about politics. I don't give a damn about those people, they're so ugly, all of them. If they were ravishing, it would perhaps be different for me. I like physical beauty that you cannot reach, you know?"
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