So, I have just featured Christian Louboutin's "Spacer" and previously featured the Birthday edition black Python "Louis" [and lust everyday with the "Alfred"'s in my closet] but, what do you know about the man behind the soles? Ecouter et apprendre! ...or listen and learn for those of us who don't speak French.
French he is, Christian Louboutin was born in France in 1964 and spent his childhood marveling at the elegance of Parisian women from all walks of life. He loves the idea behind Parisian women and their, suprisingly, unfaithfullness to a specific designer or brand. He has been quoted as saying that Parisian women are "completely unfaithful - to everyone but themselves".
Louboutin revived the high heel in the early nineties and has since gained worldwide popularity with stores on nearly every continent, the first one opening in 1990 in Paris. You would imagine he would have went into frantic work mode creating all these lustworthy shoes for the opening but instead, his first task was the box. Yes, he first created the box before the shoes. He compares the importance of the shoe box to that of the jewelry box. After all, how iconic is the little blue boxes from Tiffany's? You just know there is going to be something good inside.
After the box, came the shoes. However, the shoes didn't always have the signature red sole. Here, Louboutin describes how the red soles came about [taken from the Hub Magazine]:
"I felt that the shoes lacked energy. The colour was meant to add definition to the heel and to the shape of the shoe. When you have black shoes, for instance, adding a touch of colour can finish the design or even re-shape it completely. At first I considered using several colours, but that would mean not having a trademark. During the early 90s many women in France didn't like colours at all, but then I noticed that they still wore red. On their nails, on their lips: a woman may say she doesn't wear colour but she will still wear red - the colour of love, passion, and blood. It made sense. So I applied red nail polish to the sole of a shoe and within no time it was such a success that it became a permanent fixture."
Louboutin believes in freedom of fashion. He does not believe there are rules to wearing his shoes and says that "if a woman wants to wear 5-inch crystal heels to go to the market or even the beach, then why not? As long as she feels great, she shows that she has made an effort to do it her way. That, to me, is perfect just the way it is."
If you're Jennifer Lopez or any of the Kardashian sisters, this is probably what you do in your Louboutin's. And you also wear them on red carpets, along with almost every other fashionable woman in Hollywood. We have yet to see any press for the men's shoes but, look forward to it!
I was visiting the New York store on Madison Ave. with a fellow luster while a group of news people outside waited to interview people leaving the store. The doorman warned us and was right, as soon as we stepped out we were being asked "Why?". "Why the red soles? Why do you buy them? Who do you buy them for?". The news anchor went on and on trying to convince my friend to say that she wears the red soles to ignite the passions in men and attract them to her bedroom [as if Louboutin's were "Spanish Fly"]. When she asked me if that was my reaction, I simply said "I'm gay, so it doesn't matter what color your soles are, it's not gonna work". Joking aside, there is a very emotional reaction to Christian Louboutin's shoes. Perhaps ambition, to be able to throw around thousand dollar shoes represents a certain status most of us want to achieve, or perhaps pure love for an exquisite design.
It isn't just the consumer that have such a strong emotion for these shoes, it is apparent that emotion rules the designs in the world of Christian Louboutin. Which is probably why we are head over heels for them.
