PROFILE of shoe designer Christian Louboutin.
He sells more than five hundred thousand pairs of shoes a year, at prices ranging from three hundred and ninety-five dollars to six thousand. The sole of each of his shoes is lacquered in a vivid, glossy red. The red soles offer the pleasure of secret knowledge to their wearer. They are also a marketing gimmick that renders an otherwise indistinguishable product instantly recognizable.
Louboutin opened his first shop at the end of 1991, in the Galérie Vero-Dodat. Today, he has thirty-five stores in sixteen countries. Mentions Konstantin Kakanias and Hugo Marchand. Louboutin started his company after working for Charles Jourdan. He now employs four hundred and twenty people. A Louboutin shoe begins with a sketch. Once the sketches are complete, they are sent to the Louboutin factory, outside Milan. A team of artisans works long hours to translate Louboutin’s sketches into three dimensions. Three weeks later, a set of prototypes will arrive at Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Louboutin’s best shoes are almost prosthetic, morphing the body as radically as it is possible to do without surgery. He also maintains a small atelier on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, where he can cater to the whims of his private clients. Despite the cachet of the red soles, Louboutin has not been particularly aggressive in fending off imitators. It took him until 2007 to file for trademark protection in the U.S. This fall, Louboutin marks the twentieth anniversary of the company with a book about his career, to be published by Rizzoli. Describes the neighborhood where Louboutin grew up. He considers his shoes as a sort of man-bait: men like high heels, and women like being liked by men. With their erotic connotations, Louboutin’s shoes have served as props in many romances, not all of them innocent.Christian Louboutin
He sells more than five hundred thousand pairs of shoes a year, at prices ranging from three hundred and ninety-five dollars to six thousand. The sole of each of his shoes is lacquered in a vivid, glossy red. The red soles offer the pleasure of secret knowledge to their wearer. They are also a marketing gimmick that renders an otherwise indistinguishable product instantly recognizable.
Louboutin opened his first shop at the end of 1991, in the Galérie Vero-Dodat. Today, he has thirty-five stores in sixteen countries. Mentions Konstantin Kakanias and Hugo Marchand. Louboutin started his company after working for Charles Jourdan. He now employs four hundred and twenty people. A Louboutin shoe begins with a sketch. Once the sketches are complete, they are sent to the Louboutin factory, outside Milan. A team of artisans works long hours to translate Louboutin’s sketches into three dimensions. Three weeks later, a set of prototypes will arrive at Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Louboutin’s best shoes are almost prosthetic, morphing the body as radically as it is possible to do without surgery. He also maintains a small atelier on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, where he can cater to the whims of his private clients. Despite the cachet of the red soles, Louboutin has not been particularly aggressive in fending off imitators. It took him until 2007 to file for trademark protection in the U.S. This fall, Louboutin marks the twentieth anniversary of the company with a book about his career, to be published by Rizzoli. Describes the neighborhood where Louboutin grew up. He considers his shoes as a sort of man-bait: men like high heels, and women like being liked by men. With their erotic connotations, Louboutin’s shoes have served as props in many romances, not all of them innocent.Christian Louboutin
