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. "I have a lizard in front of me right now – two, in fact," he chuckles, speaking over the phone from Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands, where he has just finished lunch. "I’ve actually just eaten a tomato – it was so divine."
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.
"I said yes without even thinking about the difficulties or the cost," he exclaims. "My love for this woman is beyond."
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. "I think I’ve read every book about her in the world," he laughs.
Antonia Fraser’s 2001 biography The Journey is a favourite. "It contained all these new letters and other evidence that she was an extraordinary woman, not the harpy madame and all those horrible things that the French used to call her. They laughed about her and published caricatures of her. There was not much love for her in France. She was treated horribly."
Marie Antoinette may not be the only famous woman to have been misquoted, but she can certainly lay claim to being misquoted the most egregiously. Her most famous pronouncement, "Let them eat cake," is used to this day to convey how the wealthy elite can be woefully out of touch with the real world, despite there being no evidence that she ever uttered it.
Over a stellar five-decade career, Mr Blahnik’s shoes have adorned the feet of princesses and queens, models and actresses, as well as millions of regular women happy to save up and blow their budgets on his elegant footwear.
His designs really are timeless: they could as readily be worn on a London street as in the court of Marie Antoinette. "I quite like that, because it means they don’t have this fashion thing written into them," he laughs. "I hate that word."
He hates the word fashion? "No, not fashion – the idea of calling things fashionable. I hate that. My shoes, some of them are very classic, some of them are futuristic, and some of them are just completely out of control. But somehow, they don’t have a timestamp."
Perhaps that’s because his own aesthetic has remained so admirably steadfast, ignoring the trend cycle. Thick heels and heavy treads are not for Blahnik: when it comes to soles, thin is always in. "I sometimes like the platforms on wartime shoes, but I don’t like a shoe to say 'this is from the 1950s or 1960s'," he says.
Does he believe that women’s requirements of a shoe have changed in the time that he’s been designing? "Not really, no."
Modestly, he doesn’t like to boast about his clients, or pick favourites from stylish fans who have included the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Anna Wintour, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diana Ross and Margot Robbie (though he will say that Margot has "beautiful legs").
Blahnik has also collaborated with a slew of designers, and names John Galliano as a favourite. "John is extraordinary. We had an incredible relationship. He is so inspiring, both with his collections for Dior and, more recently, Margiela."
He adds: "It’s fantasy, and we are desperate for fantasy at the moment, especially the younger generations. I really worry about them. I’m not a politician – in fact, I’m apolitical – but what is going on in the world is a huge, tragic charade."
Of the new guard, he holds the French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus in high esteem. "I adore the work he does, because it’s very simple, very unpretentious. He has the spirit of Marie Antoinette – a rebellious streak."
He’s also a fan of Pierpaolo Piccioli, the former Valentino designer who has just unveiled his first collection for Balenciaga at Paris Fashion Week.
"Balenciaga is a kind of religion. Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga all had madness in them. They were extraordinary designers who did things their own way. We’re privileged to have lived through an era when those people are working."
We’re equally privileged to have lived through the Manolo Blahnik era. For he is right: the world needs fantasy and escapism more than ever. "We have to have fools like me doing things like dreaming," he says. "We all need to dream."
Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A South Kensington runs until 22 March 2026. Tickets from £23; vam.ac.uk
For the full interview pick up a copy of this week’s Luxe issue, on sale now