Louboutin, Christian

▪ 2009

born 1963, Paris, France

 In 2008 French shoe designer Christian Louboutin maintained his high profile on the international fashion scene. In April he opened a European flagship boutique on London's Mount Street; in 2008 he also added stores in Jakarta, Las Vegas, Paris, Tokyo, and Singapore. The new boutiques raised his total to 20, and it was estimated that his company sold 340,000 pairs of shoes annually. Louboutin also made a series of personal appearances at upscale American department stores where his collection was sold, including Barneys New York. These visits were timed to coincide with the first exhibition to be devoted to his creations, Sole Desire: The Shoes of Christian Louboutin (March 13–April 19), at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

      At age 17 Louboutin came to the realization that footwear was his calling. He was an apprentice in the dressing rooms of the Folies-Bergère, the famed Parisian music hall, where he was impressed with the ability of showgirls to remain surefooted while wearing huge headdresses. Louboutin gained experience through work at the venerable Paris shoe brand Charles Jourdan, with the master shoe designer Roger Vivier—who became Louboutin's mentor—and as a designer for Chanel, Maud Frizon, and Yves Saint Laurent.

      In 1992 Louboutin launched his own business in Paris, and he continued to use the boutique and design atelier there as his headquarters. He developed an unmistakable signature by giving all of his shoes bright red soles. A typical pair of his luxury shoes might also have a stiletto heel and coloured leather or exotic reptile uppers; prices averaged about $800 a pair.

      The influential industry journal Footwear News noted that Louboutin's trademark red soles were a “subtle status symbol” and were far more alluring than the overt branding of the big-name luxury brands. Differing stories had been offered for the origin of the coloured soles, but Louboutin said that the hue was inspired by an assistant's red nail polish. He decided to use red on all his soles, reasoning that “red is more than a colour. It is a symbol of love, of blood, of passion,” as he told the The Times (London).

      Louboutin developed a huge celebrity following, and his own lifestyle placed him in the jet set. When he was not traveling for business or pleasure, he divided his time between a Paris apartment, a château in the French countryside, and a retreat in Egypt.

Bronwyn Cosgrave

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