Yoox.com Summer Sale

If you’re looking for a real bargain this summer and your taste is a little more on the designer side of things then why not browse through the stunning range of high-end shoes, from all of your favourite designers and all at a hugely discounted sale price???

Yoox.com, established in 2000, is the leading virtual store for multi-brand fashion and design in the world and right now they’re offering an incredible additional 40% off their designer sale where you can snap up gems from Stella McCartney, Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood and Balenciaga, to name but a few!

So cast your eyes over these designer delights simply by clicking here.

Oh, and by the waym Yoox.com ships over 1 million orders per year in more than 100 countries so you’re definitely in safe hands!

Manolo Blahnik

The legendary shoe designer, made even more famous by Sex and the City, Manolo Blahnik was born and raised on a banana plantation in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands to a Czech father and Spanish mother. You would be right in wondering how one learnt so much about designing shoes in the Canary Islands but it was actually Blahnik’s mother who inspired him – she loved shoes so much so that she taught herself how to make her own designs.

Blahnik’s parents wanted him to grow up to become a diplomat and enrolled him to study politics and law at university in Geneva, but he left after one term and switched to architecture and literature. He left for Paris in 1965 to study art and worked at a vintage clothes store called Go. After a few years there, he moved to London where he got a job as a PR and buyer for Joan Burstein who at the time owned the Feathers boutique – she now owns Browns.

Blahnik decided that his next move would be to become a set designer and he took a portfolio of drawings to New York in 1971 with the aim of achieving this. It was there that he was introduced to Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue who told Blahnik to ‘do things. Do accessories. Do shoes.’ Back in London that is exactly what he started to do – he designed an elaborate pair of shoes for Ossie Clark but they were ‘wobbly’ and he resolved to hone his craft and find a skilled manufacturer.

He bought a shoe shop called Zapata (with borrowed money), a boutique on Old Church street in Chelsea for whom he had already been designing shoes and the shop attracted all sorts of glamorous celebrities – Lauren Bacall was even a customer, and British Vogue warned people to ‘employ a sense of humour’ if purchasing his shoes. He broke into the US by designing a collection for Bloomingdales in 1978, which enabled him to open his first US store on Madison Avenue, New York the following year.

In 1974 Blahnik became the first man to appear on the cover of British Vogue, however it wasn’t until the 1980s that his US business really took off – he brought in George Malkemus, a young copywriter to run it, leaving him free to run the European business.

All of Blahniks creations have his signature style and Anna Wintour the editor of Vogue coined the abbreviation ‘Manolos’ of which Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista bought 6 pairs between them in 1991 – for ‘racing between shows’.

In the same year Marge wore a pair in The Simpsons. ‘Luck’ would have it that Princess Diana was wearing Manolos for a party in the Serpentine Gallery on the same night as Prince Charles admitted his affair with Camila Parker Bowles.

All of these events helped catapult Blahnik into the limelight but most people will still admit that it wasn’t until the shoe obsessed Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City came along that we learned about Manolos!

Marc Jacobs

One of the worlds best known contemporary fashion designers, Marc Jacobs was born into a Jewish family in New York, U.S.A. in 1963. He lived with his grandmother for a time as a teenager and credits her with being “the biggest influence in life”.

As a fifteen year old he worked in the stockroom for trendy boutique Charivari and it was here he was allowed to design a range of knitwear for the store. He attended the New York High School of Art and Design and won a host of prestigious awards graduating in 1981. Jacobs continued his studies at Parsons School of Design where he won some of the schools highest honours including Design Student of the Year.

In 1986 backed by Onward Kashiyama USA Inc. Jacobs designed his first collection bearing the Marc Jacobs label, the following year he became the youngest ever designer to be awarded the fashion industries highest accolade, The Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent.

Jacobs famous “Grunge” collection for Perry Ellis in 1993 brought him to the forefront of the fashion industry, loved by the critics, but disliked by the company, it led to Jacobs leaving. The designer has not been afraid of bucking the trend in fashion design, producing contemporary clothes that people want to wear. His ad campaigns have featured the rich and famous such as Victoria Beckham, Winona Ryder and Charlotte Rampling to name just a few. Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista have modelled his clothes for free. In 1994 he produced his first full menswear collection.

Louis Vuitton appointed Jacobs as their Creative Director in 1997 when he created their first ready-to-wear line, he also works on their shoes, handbags and luxury accessories and in 1999 was named Accessory Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

The Marc Jacobs Home Collection was launched in 2003 and began as a limited line of luxury accessories that has since grown to include crystal, silver, and cashmere pillows and is sold exclusively at Jacobs boutique shops. Marc Jacobs now has stores across the world including Paris, London, Madrid, New York, San Francisco, Boston USA and numerous outlets across Japan, China and the Middle East. In recent years he has introduced a range of perfumes and watches which have been extremely successful.

In 2007 Jacobs was named in ‘OUT’ magazines list of the 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America and controversially in 2009 produced a t shirt demanding the legalization of gay marriage. In 2010 he was included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

To view Marc Jacobs shoes just click here!

Christian Louboutin

One of the most famous and prestigious shoe designers in the world, Louboutin was born in 1963 and brought up in Paris. His father was a carpenter and somewhat surprisingly he has said his mother and four sisters were not fans of high heels.

Louboutin is credited with re-inventing the stiletto and bringing it back into fashion. In 1992 he started to give his designs the iconic Red Sole, now so well known, after painting red nail polish on a pair of shoes he felt “lacked energy”.

Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker and Victoria Beckham have all worn his designs in fact there are very few celebs or well known ladies who don’t own a pair of his glamourous shoes and they have even featured in the first ‘Sex @ The City’ film, being the object of desire for the shoe obsessed heroine Carrie Bradshaw. Oprah Winfrey devoted a whole show to her love affair with his designs, however the designer himself said he was ill and could not appear.

Louboutin’s shoes have appeared on the catwalk for fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen, John Paul Gaultier and Lanvin. In a partnership with toy manufacturers Mattel he has designed shoes for ‘Barbie’ after redesigning her ankle which he thought was not ‘shapely’ enough.

His luxury shoes range from a simple court shoe at around the 500 dollar mark to designs costing thousands of dollars. He has said he is not really interested in ‘comfortable’ shoes and his designs are more for men than women!

Away from the fashion industry Louboutin’s interests include landscaping, trapeze [he keeps one at home] and occasionally dancing and he has appeared in a tap dancing sequence in a video for an internet fashion company.

Recently Louboutin has sued two rival shoe designers, Yves Saint Laurent for alleged trademark infringement of his Red Sole which has been trademarked since 2008. Y.S.L. have been selling their shoes in Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman alongside Louboutin’s designs and he is claiming damages of at least $1 million and also the Brazilian label Carmen Steffens who produce a number of coloured sole designs and claim they were selling them long before Louboutin’s trademark was in place.

If you fancy a swanky pair of designer shoes then just click here!