IN HIS FOOTSTEPS
Christian Louboutin talks to Justine Picardie about the women who have shaped his life, the life that shaped his shoes, and why Cinderella’s glass slippers are a dream come true
To his myriad admirers around the world, myself included, Christian Louboutin is far more than a designer; he is a purveyor of enchantment and dreams, the contemporary equivalent of a magical shoemaker in the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (who was himself the son of a cobbler). I have known Louboutin for a number of years, and seen him mobbed by several hundred fans seeking his signature in Harrods, and celebrated in a hit single by Jennifer Lopez. But we are meeting today in one of his Paris properties (Louboutin owns several in this, the city of his birth, as well as homes in the French countryside, Egypt and Portugal). It’s just a few steps away from his jewel box of a boutique on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, where ardent shoppers are stocking up on the signature red-soled heels. But inside his apartment is an ever more beguiling new Made to Order collection, featuring fantastical creations first shown during Paris Couture Week, including a pair of hand-sculpted gold-plated stiletto heels inspired by the spines of a porcupine, and another adorned with turquoise cabochons and a filigree tiara.
Our conversation that follows is, as always, led by his characteristic blend of imaginative leaps and charming candour. He’s happy to talk about his four-year-old twin daughters (who have been the catalyst for his latest venture, a capsule collection of baby shoes) and their unexpected determination over what they will, and will not, agree to be dressed in for school. ‘We can’t tell them what to wear,’ he says, shaking his head. ‘It’s so bizarre – it doesn’t come from me, or from their mother.’ That said, he has a lifetime of experience of determined female figures: three older sisters, and a mother whose extramarital affair with an Egyptian ended in Louboutin’s conception. It was only after his parents’ death that he discovered this – from one of his sisters – but his philosophical approach to life is such that he took the news in his stride. ‘I still consider that my father was my father, and the biological father was a story between a man and my mother… I love my father, and he really loved me.’
He does, however, link the death of his mother in 1991, when he was 27, with a new-found ambition to launch his own company (having previously worked as an assistant to the legendary shoe designer Roger Vivier, after a teenage apprenticeship at the Folies Bergère and a stint at Dior). ‘I became an adult when she died; I no longer was a child, because I was very much the son of my mother, much more so than the son of my father. He was there, but less present; my mother was super present. And she’d always been encouraging me, so I thought, I have to do something for her.’
As it happens, his mother had worn flat shoes, rather than the precipitous heels for which Louboutin first became famous. But he is as happy to design loafers and trainers for women as he is for men. ‘You know, at this point, I don’t really think about gender,’ he says. ‘We have more women working in the company than men, and though I designed the loafer for men at first, the girls in the studio started wearing them. So I said, “Fine, fine!” Now, when I’m designing sneakers, I’m not thinking specifically about men or women.’ Louboutin does, however, incorporate the advice of a friend, who is a professional athlete, when it comes to creating running shoes that are as functional as they are decorative. ‘He’s been helping with the process, because he’s so passionate about sporting technique.’ As a consequence, Louboutin’s latest collection of trainers combines his renowned creative flair (bold colours, graffiti prints and crystal embellishment) with technical accuracy, providing cushioning and flexibility.
Bag lovers will be pleased to discover that he also has a brand-new range – the Marie Jane bucket – including a version in red-studded neoprene to match the running shoes. But like all the greatest magicians, he is still considering how best to conjure up the definitive fairy-tale talisman: Cinderella’s slippers. ‘For me, the glass slipper is the idea of fantasy in a shoe,’ he says, ‘the shoe as an icon, and an object of desire in itself – the ultimate shoe in the ultimate story.’
‘There is always a glass slipper in your collections,’ I observe, thinking of his talent for creating translucency, whether through fine lace or other pearlescent materials.
‘Ah, but next time I see you, you’ll understand why I’m talking about the ultimate glass slipper,’ he says, ‘when I will unveil something new. And you won’t be disappointed.’
Disappointed? Never! For if anyone understands the soul of our soles, and the sorcery of shoes, it is the truly remarkable Christian Louboutin.
‘For me, the glass slipper is the idea of fantasy in a shoe’