Tieless and wearing trainers, he seems so relaxed he could be in danger of falling apart. "When you come here you are completely free to do whatever you want for the rest of your life," he says "We are a small group of very privileged people We have extraordinary freedom Nobody is checking up on you Nobody is judging the value of what you do. "We had passionate loves and hates, often for the same things, switching languages mid-sentence as the subject warranted. This we have kept up for 35 years! The book really is about that friendship.'Blahnik by Boman' is published by Thames & Hudson, priced £48, on Monday. Michael Walzer may be the world's happiest philosopher. I love it!" he explodes with all the gusto of a child pulling at his mother's apron.
Blahnik, however, does not seek to bring attention to his own life, but instead wishes to bring a vast array of inspiration to yours."Manolo and I became friends because we found we had much in common," says Boman. At one of our earlier meetings he is excited by a website he has just discovered dedicated to The House of Manolo Blahnik, a collective of African-American and Latino gay and transgender drag queens "Have you seen this? Can you imagine? I was shocked This is divine You have to have a sense of humour. Visually it worked, the Prague connection made sense, but I had no idea that Manolo's father sang in the choir as boy."The imagery is truly disparate, from a lettuce green suede shoe with lettuces to a furry mule caught in a mouse-trap References to female icons span Kay Kendall to J-Lo. There is the photograph of a black satin shoe with a chiffon veil that alludes to Jackie Kennedy. Manolo comments: "The widow shoe - it depressed everybody."For all his soign?legance, from the top of his slicked-back hair to the soles of his cream and tan co-respondent's shoes, Blahnik could certainly never be accused of being a cultural snob. "When I put it next to the postcard I've had on my bathroom wall for 20 years, it came alive!"Others, he loved because of unexpected connections with Blahnik.
"I'd be guided by some spirit, and do a picture that worked for me as an image, like the satin shoe with the marcasite fringe that hangs on an upside down book of photographs of the gothic cathedral in Prague. "Photography has become synonymous with carting hordes of people and equipment from place to place, so-called 'stylists' bringing in masses of rented props," says Boman. "What appeals to me about still-life photography is that it can be between me and the subject through the camera. This book was made in total solitude, at home, with bits and pieces that I had around the house."And what are the stand-out photographs for Boman?"I have favourites for various reasons, often to do with the process," he says, "making peacock tails and artificial redcurrants and other things not normally considered part of picture taking." He picked a flat, red, yellow and black shoe from 1981 because it reminded him of the artist Alexander Calder. "I have an incredible debt to Mrs Ritchie, because she said something divine that is going to be on my tombstone. She said my shoes are 'as good as sex and they last longer'."Despite the worldwide acclaim and sometimes ugly clamour for Manolos, Blahnik has cleverly kept his business small It is a family concern he shares with his sister Evangeline. "It is a luxury for me in the sense that it's all my own decisions.
