Manolo Blahnik: No Biz Like Shoe Biz

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/01/2001 at 10:11 AM EST

The footwear that keeps "Sex and the City" on its toes have come under fire. Top shoe designer Manolo Blahnik has pulled a pair of stiletto shoes from his latest collection for fear that their "killer heels" could be dangerous, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports. Blahnik, known for his exotic and pricey pointed toes, had designed a pair of shoes accented with razor-sharp 3.5 inch titanium (about as thin as the ink cartridge in a ballpoint pen . . . how's that for a balancing act?). But the designer decided to remove the shoes from the market over apprehensions that they could become a lethal weapon if the wearer accidentally stepped on another person's foot, said the Telegraph. "The heel was easy to walk on and steady but would cut through carpet," said a spokesperson for Blahnik, whose shoes are the envy of the characters on the American HBO series. (One episode featured the scenario in which the protagonist played by Sarah Jessica Parker was held up for her shoes on a Manhattan street.) "If the wearer stood on someone's foot," said the rep, "it would go straight through," a spokesman for Blahnik told the paper. The designer was also concerned that the shoes could be mistaken for weapons when luggage is X-rayed at airports. The spokesman added paper that the shoes would now be remodeled with a safer heel.