Yahoo Lifestyle Frankly Speaking With Christian Louboutin
JF: Tell us about your signature red sole. When did that first come about?
CL: Totally by accident. I was not thinking, “OK, I need a signature, what can I do?” It was very early [on] in 1992. All the designs I had done at the time were very vivid and [using lots of] colours. [Handling] one of the first prototypes I was very happy [with it], but then when I turned the shoe over, suddenly [I realised] there was a lot of black … Just behind the heel, a black sole.I thought, there is no black in my drawing, so I have to erase it. The girl who was trying on the shoe was polishing her nails, so I grabbed the nail polish – she had only done two nails so we had a bit of a fight about it – and I painted the sole. Suddenly – boom! It became exactly like the drawing and I thought, “This is it! OK, every season
I will choose one colour for the sole.”
[I planned] to have a forest green for the next winter, but then I realised people did not necessarily want colours in the ’90s. Most women would say, “I only wear black”, but they would consider red as an accent, not a colour. So I stuck to red because it was very much an element of seductiveness.
JF: You meet someone who says to you: “I’ve just landed from Mars. What is a Christian Louboutin shoe?” What would your response be?
CL: Well, I would say, there is a difference between men and women here on earth, and my shoes are dedicated to women who are very happy to be women. Femininity is an important asset; it can be playful, but also an element of seduction.
JF: How different are men’s and women’s attitudes towards shoes?
CL: Completely different, right from the moment they put a shoe on. When a woman puts on a pair of shoes, the first thing she does is go straight [to] the mirror. She tiptoes [around], looks at herself [glances over her shoulder] at her arse, then walks back again. If she has liked [what she’s seen], she will consider buying the shoes. When a man puts on a pair of shoes, he may not even stand up!
JF: That’s all he does?
CL: He may look at himself in the mirror, but he often doesn’t because the shoe is detached from the idea it’s a part of [his silhouette]. With women, it has to be balanced; it has to [be part of] her silhouette. Men have an attitude that shoes are an outside element. I give the example of Helmut Newton’s pictures. If you see a portrait of a woman who is completely naked with shoes on, no-one is going to think it is weird. But a man naked with a pair of shoes on? People would just laugh.
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