Chronicle Books Photography

However you choose to introduce him, Manolo Blahník is now, for better or worse, synonymous with “Sex and the City.” While he existed mostly as a namedrop and occasional plot device in the HBO show, “Blahník by Boman” gives the women’s shoe designer’s work room to speak for itself. And the mood is lighthearted, with a dose of whimsy and light surrealism: Eric Boman’s photographs remind you of a well-appointed, uncluttered “I Spy” riddle book. There’s a tomato-colored heel chilling out in a mound of lacquered noodles, and a furred boot resting on top of a basket full of teddy bears among many other juxtapositions, bookended by light-hearted dialogue between the two authors. There’s a calm, dignified tone that makes the high-art references pop out like the clues they are: seeing Blahník as the heir apparent of the consumerist potential in Meret Oppenheim’s fur teacup? Why not?