Last month, Maison Christian Louboutin made a splash with “Paris is Louboutining,” a synchronised swimming spectacle at the Piscine Molitor, which is incidentally where the bikini was born about 78 years ago. It was Paris Fashion Week SS25 and Louboutin, 60, had the French Olympic artistic swimming team perform underwater in his new Miss Z pumps. Art and fashion intersected as film director and photographer David LaChapelle and choreographer Blanca Li presented a hypnotic aquatic performance that included colourful projections, fountains, even a giant pair of Christian Louboutin mules that served as a pool slide.
Louboutin knows how to make an impact. As do his leg-lengthening and calf-defining shoes. His red-soled heels have become a must have accessory on the red carpet. Be it Selena Gomez at the Emilia Perez Gala during the 68th BFI London Film Festival last weekend, or Demi Moore promoting her big 2024 hit, The Substance or style superstar Zendaya, there is always a Louboutin photo op. It is no wonder that Louboutin, both creative director and shareholder of his company, doesn’t believe in advertising.
Christian Louboutin boutique in Mumbai
Back in the day, it was reported that author Danielle Steele owned 6000 pairs of these shoes. In a profile in The New Yorker many years ago, Hamish Bowles, the European editor-at-large for Vogue, was quoted saying, “There’s the promise of something wicked in Christian’s shoes. They’re a little dangerous, and there’s a sense of teetering on the precipice between avoiding dreary conventional good taste and tumbling into something far more outrageous.”
The installation at the PFW show featured women in Miss Z pumps and a firefighter who disrobed and dove into the pool
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Special Arrangement
The brand that started with only two or three stores now owns more than 160 boutiques. It has diversified to 55% women’s shoes, 30% men’s shoes, and 15% leather goods. Beauty is a recent category as well.
A celebrated Indophile, horticulturalist and passionate collector of furniture – he has an app to keep track of them – Louboutin has friends and collaborators across the world. They appreciate his hustle and his sense of humour. In India this circle includes designer Sabyasachi Mukherkjee and Chennai-based founder of Vastrakala, Jean-François Lesage.
Having been introduced to Indian cinema at a theatre near his home in Paris when growing up, Louboutin is more than familiar with Bollywood. He is quick to break into a Hindi film song – “I am often singing when I ride my Vespa, so only I can hear my voice” – and makes time for art and design shows. When in Mumbai he schedules trips to Dadar Flower Market, Chor Bazaar for film posters, and even Vandana Fabrics on Napean Sea Road. Architect and designer Rooshad Shroff, who helped design the Mumbai and Bangkok Louboutin stores, has accompanied him on some of these trips. “Christian has seen me grow. He selected me to work on his stores based on an embroidered sofa and a panel we did with embroidery on wood. I have dome some marble inlay work for his store in Malaysia. Last weekend, he came over to see my new collection, Balance, at the IF.BE (Ice Factory Ballard Estate) space and was impressed. I value his advice,” says Shroff.
Jhansi from the Salon L’Inde at the Mumbai store
| Photo Credit:
Barry Rodgers
Christian was in town to launch The Diwali Edit that included the Lady Bombay Diwali 85, the Kate Diwali 85 and the Pyraclou Diwali. There is a generous mix of rhinestones, fishnet, and Indian fabrics in strong pink fuchsia, rose, teal, yellow, and red in these styles. Fans, however, are already lusting after Miss Z’s metallic options in gold, pink, blue and silver. They will have to wait till January 2025. More from the designer:
Soft spot for art
Louboutin has named his guesthouse in Portugal after a cemetery. His La Folie there, a space for both meditation and parties, is inspired by Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar and stepwells. He collects Hopi masks, kachina dolls, and ceramic art and furniture by famous designers, artists and weavers. He says he loves being inspired by other cultures and has filled his recently launched hotel near Lisbon with precious works of art.
A personal favourite is British pop artist Allen Jones, “one of the rare artists for whom shoes are not difficult to draw; I see many contemporary modern artists who are great but when it comes to shoes, it is distorted.” Louboutin has artwork by Allen Jones hanging in his atelier. “There is a sense of achievement when I look at it, when as a child I read of this artist in books, then got to know him and work with him.
Red-soled chairs
In May, the shoe designer collaborated with an old friend and design genius Pierre Yovanovitch on a series of 13 chairs that pay homage to women icons. The shoe designer from Brittany took the latter’s famous Clam chair and gave them his distinctive red sole. They ranged from Egypt’s Nefertari to Dita, inspired by his friend Dita von Teese. “Pierre is incredibly funny though he looks so serious. I call him Miss World,” shares Louboutin.
The Frenchmen were happy to include expert artisans for embroidery, upholstery and leatherwork. “My father was a carpenter so this was a tribute to him,” says Louboutin who hopes to take home the Zenobie chair, inspired by Syria’s Queen Zenobia. Crafted from solid oak with embroidered fabric, its feet feature turquoise gemstones.
In the past master embroiderer and founder of Vastrakala Jean-François Lesage has likened you to a sponge, as you are well-read and quick to absorb various influences. What was the impact of Chennai’s movie studios on you?
I remember my first visit to Madras in the late ‘70s. There would be a cinema near to the airport, with hand-painted posters. Some were full of big sequins. The landscape would include men with massive mustaches, giant sunglasses, and big ties in satin. It was so cinematic, both on those posters and the streets. For me the discovery of Indian cinema in the country was more Madras than Bombay’s Juhu or Bollywood.
Christian Louboutin Pyraclou Diwali 110
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Right from the age of 8 when you visited Palais de la Porte Dorée often in Paris, to your later travels around the world, you have celebrated diversity and cultural influences. You have also been outspoken about cultural appropriation.
I think it is very important to look at other cultures and to understand, through culture and the handicraft of another country, what they are about. Right now one should be able to connect and communicate with the rest of the world. It is from ‘cultural fascination’ that you get a mixed race or one of the most beautiful marriages of art, such as Gandhara art [the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism]. Personally, I feel the term cultural appropriation is really racist and stupid. Stop terrorising people. It limits creativity and humour in every field.
Salon L’Inde, offering a glimpse into the Maison’s archives from 1995 to 2014, is at the Christian Louboutin boutique in Mumbai till November 6, 2024. The showcase features eight India-focused pieces as well as original archival sketches.
Published – October 18, 2024 09:44 pm IST