The cause was cancer, said Anthony Yurgaitis, his husband and business partner. Princess Diana wore them, as did Paloma Picasso, Anjelica Huston, the designer Carolina Herrera and virtually the entire staff of Vogue magazine. The company began in the early 1970s in a London boutique frequented by Bianca Jagger and other rock star adjacents. It was presided over, salon-style, by the exuberant Mr. Blahnik. A Manhattan store, opened in 1981, was an afterthought and losing money when Dawn Mello, then the fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, the New York department store, introduced Mr. Malkemus, one of her copy writers, to Mr. Blahnik.

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Persons: George Malkemus, Manolo Blahnik, Sarah Jessica Parker, Anthony Yurgaitis, Long, Manolos, Ms, Parker, Diana, Paloma Picasso, Anjelica Huston, Carolina Herrera, Bianca Jagger, Blahnik, Dawn Mello, Bergdorf Goodman, Malkemus Organizations: City, HBO, Vogue, New Locations: Manhattan, London, Canary, New York