NewsEuropeChristian Louboutin: “I've been making men's heels for 30 years. Genderless fashion is not something new for me”

Christian Louboutin: “I’ve been making men’s heels for 30 years. Genderless fashion is not something new for me”

Christian Louboutin has been fascinated with two things all his life: shoes and fish. In the mid-1980s, when he was taking his first steps as a shoemaker, he brought these two passions together in one original creation: a pair of heels covered in genuine salmon skin—scales included—and aluminum sheets. he baptized them Aluminum Saumon. “It seemed like a good idea, but it didn’t turn out the way I expected,” he admits. Monsieur Louboutin (Paris, 58 years old) in conversation with EL PAÍS at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, where he has just opened L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II, a monumental exhibition that traces his life, his work, his famous clients and his infinite sources of inspiration. It has completed three decades of success and to celebrate it has prepared this unprecedented retrospective: more than 350 designs exhibited in a space of 2,000 square meters, where friends such as the British pop artist Allen Jones, the film director David Lynch or the dancer Dita Von Teese.

The tour begins exactly at the point where Louboutin began to sketch his creations: a sign that reads “No high heels”, illustrated with the silhouette of a stiletto impossible needle “That sign was placed at the entrance of the old Museum of African and Oceanic Arts in Paris, next to the house where I grew up. He passed by there every day when he went to school. At that time, the seventies, nobody wore that kind of heel. I knew it was a shoe, but it was a shoe I had never seen on the street before. So, at the age of 12, I understood that everything starts with a drawing. And that’s how I started”, explains the designer while acting as a guide through the sample.

One of the pieces from the exhibition ‘L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II’ in Monaco, by designer Christian Louboutin.JAMES D. KELLY

Louboutin never stopped drawing stilettos, salons, ankle boots and boots. He worked for Charles Jourdan, then a shoemaker for the house dior; he was an assistant to fellow shoe designer Roger Vivier; and in 1992 he launched his own brand. Today he has a firm with its own identity —his red soles are unmistakable—, more than 160 stores and a strategic alliance with Mytheresa, the German sales platform on-line of luxury, with which he sells his creations all over the world. In addition, Louboutin and Mytheresa, sponsor of the exhibition, have just launched a capsule collection for the summer that reinterprets 24 classics from the shoe house.

QUESTION. This sample is the consecration of the shoe as an object of desire. What is the relationship between your creations and fetishism?

RESPONSE. Every object of desire is related to fetishism. People confuse fetishism with bondage. But you can feel devotion for anything. There is a beautiful book by Orhan Pamuk about a man who collects everything related to the woman he loves: from cigarette butts to earrings. After reading the museum of innocence I understood how fetishism works. But it is true that the shoe also has a sexual connotation. Once, a sexologist asked me if she considered heels to have a phallic shape and I answered no, that they are much smaller and thinner than a phallus. [risas]. But I recognize that it is a sexual element. This sexologist explained to me that the foot on a heel forms an arch that, unconsciously, refers us to the position of the woman when she is reaching orgasm. The foot is in a tense posture that emulates that moment.

P. There is a lot of talk now about genderless fashion. What is your opinion of the concept?

R. I’ve been making high-heeled shoes for womenand men, for 30 years. Since the very beginning, since I started, I have had many male customers come to my store to buy heels for themselves. Genderless fashion is not something new for me. We have studied the phenomenon and found that women wear the smaller sizes, while men wear the larger ones. That is why we have an exclusive collection of plus sizes: from number 44 to 46. This is how we cover the needs of men and women of all kinds, of people of all genders. Owning our own stores allows us to know our customers intimately.

Carolina de Monaco was one of Louboutin’s first clients, in the early 1990s. The princess opened last weekend L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II at the Grimaldi Forum, where in previous years retrospectives of artists such as Francis Bacon, Salvador Dalí or Alberto Giacometti were held. The exhibition is a continuation of the one that the shoemaker presented in 2020 at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris, but brings new pieces and a twist with which he celebrates his friendship with the Monegasque principality and with Grace’s eldest daughter Kelly. “When I met her, she was already a very important personality in Paris. Two friends of hers brought her to my first store, on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She came a couple of times and I wasn’t there. Finally, when we met, I found a friendly, easy-going, funny and joking person. From the beginning we had a very strong connection, ”he recalls now.

The iconic Christian Louboutin 'Pensée' model worn by Carolina de Monaco at the Rose Ball in 1995.
The iconic Christian Louboutin ‘Pensée’ model worn by Carolina de Monaco at the Rose Ball in 1995.JEAN-VINCENT SIMONET

In April 1995, the princess wore louboutin pink with a flower Warholian as an appliqué at the Rose Ball. It was the iconic model I thought. The image of Carolina in a Chanel dress and those shoes went around the world and catapulted the designer to the Olympus of fashion. In L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II there are many nods to Monaco: from those salons —”He has lent them to us”— to leather sandals licked Created by Louboutin exclusively for Albert II’s sister and inspired by ones worn by Princess Grace. In addition, there are original headdresses by the dancer Joséphine Baker, on loan from the New National Museum of Monaco; photographs and paintings by Andy Warhol; nudes by Helmut Newton; and set models by Visconti.

But his connection to the little principality began long before his relationship and collaboration with Princess Caroline. “The first time I visited the south of France I was almost a teenager. My older sister and I made a stop in Monaco. She wanted to see the Casino, the palace the typical places. I only wanted to see one thing: the Oceanographic Museum. And it was the first thing I did. Have I already told you that I have always been obsessed with fish?”, says the designer between laughs. That visit to Monte Carlo could have been the genesis of the Aluminum Saumonthe heels covered with salmon skin that he created in 1986.

A row of shoes, with the iconic red sole, by Christian Louboutin on display at 'L'Exhibition(niste) Chapter II'.
A row of shoes, with the iconic red sole, by Christian Louboutin on display at ‘L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II’.JAMES D. KELLY

The retrospective goes further and addresses all his creative stages and all the sources from which he draws. There are 14 sections, in which Louboutin takes the visitor by the hand through his real, imaginary and, at times, surreal universes: his beginnings as a shoemaker, theater and cinema, art, Wedgwood porcelain, print chintz, fetishism or the pop world. It also makes many references to Spain: from a Holy Week float made for this exhibition by the Sevillian artisans of Villarreal Orfebrería —”When I was in Seville, I fell in love with their work”— to a photograph by Carla Bruni, about some louboutinclimbing the stairs of the Zarzuela Palace with Queen Letizia —”This image could not be missing”—, passing through the legendary model shoes Bullwhich he presented in the fall/winter 1995 collection.

Opening the exhibition in the middle of July seems like a risky decision, but it makes sense. Monaco is full of tourists from all over the world at this time. The streets around the Grimaldi Forum are abuzz with luxury shoppers and high-end cars. “Definitely, after the pandemic, people are eager to communicate, to get together, to travel, to enjoy themselves, to have dinners and parties. I think we all value more than ever the sense of community, friendship and family”, reflects the shoemaker.

P. And how has the pandemic affected you?

R. I knew from the beginning that it was going to last a long time. And he wasn’t scared. I have the philosophy of going with the flow. I easily adapt to changes. In March 2020, I went with my family to my house in Portugal, by the sea. We moved there. I have several olive trees. So I dedicated myself to cleaning the trees and removing the weeds, while on my mobile phone alarms went off for appointments in Paris, Monaco or Qatar that I was not going to be able to attend. I was privileged, I can’t complain. I spent it in a beautiful house and with my loved ones.

P. For more than 15 years it has had an alliance with the luxury online sales platform Mytheresa. Thanks to her, he has been able to continue selling his shoes even in confinement, when her stores were closed. Was he a visionary?

R. No, I have a very well organized company and I am not the one who organizes it [risas]. In these two and a half years of the pandemic we have seen an impressive sales boom on-line. The first months of covid-19 were difficult, especially March and April 2020. But that same summer, online purchases began to skyrocket. Fortunately, we have not had any problems with our supply chain because we do not use raw materials from China. The brands that depend on the Chinese productive sector have suffered a lot, but this is not our case.

Another corner of 'L'Exhibition(niste) Chapter II' with more Christian Louboutin designs.
Another corner of ‘L’Exhibition(niste) Chapter II’ with more Christian Louboutin designs.JAMES D. KELLY

P. Do you now perceive a greater demand for luxury?

R. Definitely.

P. What is luxury for you?

R. Time, time and more time. Also, space and freedom.

P. So, the pace has not slowed down after the pandemic…

R. No, I’m back at the same pace, even stronger. During the pandemic we all said we were going to change, but it was a lie. Now there is a greater frenzy to live and not miss a thing. In that sense, we are worse off than before.

Source: EL PAIS

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