You’ve seen them on the best dressed celebrities such as Halle Berry and Christina Applegate, and you probably know they aren’t by Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin or Jimmy Choo. Maybe you thought these were custom-made shoes that only the stars wore. That’s what I thought, until earlier this spring, when I visited Footcandy in St. Helena and saw these amazing shoes for myself. The first pair I cast my eyes upon were vibrant green satin mules with colorful feathers at the front---Carnival time in Rio! The style of George Mang is completely over the top, feminine, glamorous and sexy. Needless to say, these are NOT sensible shoes. They are meant to be worn by divas, superstars and those among us who believe we can get away with such mind blowing style. These shoes are as gutsy and as viscerally sexual as the amazing Charles Jourdan collections from the seventies and early eighties. But George Mang’s formation in the shoe industry was working with the finest and frankly conservative names in the business—Nordstrom, Bruno Magli and Arthur Berens, pushing the envelope, building lines, and in the case of Nordstrom, working side by side with Blake Nordstrom, brainstorming and laying the foundation for this iconic shoe department. Blake Nordstrom is now the president of Nordstrom, and the two have remained friendly.
George Mang had made the right connections with the best Italian shoe factories, and a few years ago, he began his own company. He says he loves being headquartered in Los Angeles and Hollywood because it gives him great satisfaction to see the gorgeous celebrities in his shoes.
