Words: Laura Grabiner

From Carrie spending her entire paycheck on shoes in Sex and the City, to those bridal stilettos that became the must-have accessory to walk down the aisle in, the name Manolo Blahnik has become synonymous with phenomenal footwear.

His shoes – which have become artworks in their own right – are all complemented with beautiful, idiosyncratic illustrations that have themselves made up several coffee table books.

So it’s no wonder the shoe designer’s work is the subject of a new exhibition at St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum.

The art of shoes: New Manolo Blahnik exhibition opens in St Petersburg