Christian Louboutin - The Genius

                                             CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN

Christian Louboutin is one of the most established shoe designers in the world. It is said that he has always been fascinated by ladies’ shoes since he was a child. This passion led him to be extremely successful in shoe designing and to be one of the most famous shoe designers today.

Christian Louboutin was born on the 7^th January 1953 in Paris in the 12^th arrondissement. His father, Roger, was a cabinet maker while his mother was a homemaker. He was the only son of the family with three other sisters.  Being always awestruck by women’s shoes, Louboutin started to sketch shoe designs when he was only a teen. Being a lover of arts, he used to visit the African and Oceanic Art Museum where he actually was struck by a sign which forbid entry to women wearing stilettos in order to prevent damage to the wooden floor. The image of the thorn-like heel of a shoe slashed with a red line hit him at that moment. At the age of 12, the French designer would sneak out of school to go watch the famous showgirls of Paris or even go to a flea market at Vila do Conde. It was at this particular moment, while watching the dancers that inspiration came to him as he noticed that women looked mostly at their legs in silhouette.

With this passion driving him, Louboutin dropped out of school and joined a training at the Academie Roederer for a little amount of time where he studied drawing and decorative arts. He then travelled to Egypt and India for a year and returned to Paris to produce a design portfolio full of intricate models of high heels. At the same time, he was working as an apprentice at the Folies Bergeres, the well-known French music hall, where his passion for shoes increased even more as according to him, “nobody wears shoes like a dancer on stage”. After this episode, Charles Jourdan tutored the young designer who later freelanced at a range of illustrious ateliers such as Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.

In 1988, Christian Louboutin joined Roger Vivier who was one of the masters of footwear at that time and who had collaborated with the likes of Dior in the 1950s. Under his supervision, Louboutin started to learn how to master the technique of making shoes and even raised his skills. Louboutin actually accredited Vivier with teaching him the heart of shoe creation where “the most important part of the shoe is the body and the heel. Like a good bone structure, if you get that right, the rest is makeup”.

The beginning of the nineties marked the time when Louboutin launched his self-named shoe atelier ‘Christian Louboutin Shoes’. The latter became best known for their exoticism and lively colours. The French designer brought the stilettos back into fashion in the nineties and into the 2000. He wished to make women look sexy, beautiful and make their legs look as long as he could and used to wish t actually create heels of 12cm or even higher. His evening-wear shoe designs included exotic embellishment and decoration such as feathers, leathers and jewel encrusted straps. The trademark for Louboutin’s shoes is the lipstick red soles of his shoes which flash when the wearer walks. The iconic symbol of the brand, simple and utterly recognizable, brings into mind the powerful image he had at the African and Oceanic Art Museum. The famous French designer also produces elegant and feminine casual shoes inspired by mostly nature and dance. He often says that his shoe designs reflect his upbringing and is actually a mixture of culture, art and history. Celebrities wearing his shoe designs are namely Elizabeth Taylor, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kylie Minogue. Christian Louboutin shoes can today be found in several boutiques worldwide and Louboutins were in fact named the sexiest heel by the Daily Telegraph with the classic black stiletto being the most famous.