Pencil meets paper. This classic approach is the key foundation for every one of Christian Louboutin’s creations. “I’m someone who’s a real sketcher and there are two possibilities when you sketch. You have something in mind or sometimes it comes from elements,” says the designer, as we chat in his latest Middle Eastern stand-alone boutique. After joining forces with the Chalhoub Group, the designer is rampantly opening stores across the region. The first was opened in January in Al Khayyat Mall in Jeddah and the second was in Aswaq Beirut this summer. The third just opened in the Dubai Mall at the time of going to press and the fourth is due to open in Riyadh towards the end of the year.
But back to the issue at hand, I have been charged to discover what it is that makes Louboutin tick and how it is he does what he does. So I try to pry deeper with my questions. It seems that from just a simple idea Louboutin lets his creativity run wild, paying no heed to the practicalities of actually building the shoe. In fact, he’s more concerned with capturing the image in his head, which can be inspired by almost anything: a piece of architecture, a pattern on a piece of fabric, a curve that tickles the imagination, anything. “I often shrink something that exists, furniture, textiles when I’m designing. I accommodate ideas and it becomes a design.” It is this alliance of a creative outlook and an incredibly open mind that makes his creations so beloved.
“For me, it’s a very long process when I’m sketching. One drawing leads to another and another. In this drawing I don’t like the curve, so I keep sketching and sketching until I arrive, finalising a sketch that I’m happy with,” he says with almost palpable intensity. I ask Louboutin to try out a sketch as we sit there, perhaps inspired by the issues of Bespoke spread about him. He accepts and for a brief moment, the modern day sole-king is revealing the wellspring of his genius. Then he laughs and rather self-effacingly hands over the paper, “It doesn’t always mean it’s going to be a good shoe though, a sketch is just a sketch.”
While each Louboutin may be rooted in the whimsical, the process of turning a sketch into a shoe is a drawn out one, where the artist’s ideas don’t always translate to the final product. Louboutin works with a team of modelists and technicians who build each shoe, starting with what the designer refers to as the ‘core’. “First you have to do the construction, this isn’t always new. When you have a good structure, you keep on using it. Changing the design on the structure is like putting make-up on a face, you could even put on a false nose; it’s nothing. But before all that you need to make the base, and this can take forever. Sometimes it takes one, two, or three seasons before it’s ready.”
The team incorporate his ideas, or the make-up, into the finished product, starting with a rough leather shoe, made from low quality material. “When you design you shouldn’t worry about this being too high, or that working. As a designer, you shouldn’t work within boundaries,” he says. Mentioning the point at which design meets practicality, he smiles, “With a good modelist it’s a technical issue. It’s better to have someone who’s going to technically challenge what’s possible, who’s going to adapt the design, but this shouldn’t be part of the process.”
The end results are as close as possible to Louboutin’s initial sketches and he reveals that the greatest source of pride is when the final product reflects his original ideas, though there’s always room for movement. Naturally, he realises that it’s not always possible, “The problem with that is that it needs to appear and also disappear. Technically, the challenge is all in the location, if you see it’s a fake then it doesn’t work. Just like a woman at the opera, you know the make-up is exaggerated, but on the stage it looks natural. It needs to be right on the line. Incorporated into the body of the woman, not detached.” If they can’t make that happen, it’s back to the drawing board.
This balance between the ephemeral and more earthly concerns is now a hallmark of Louboutin heels. More than just an unwearable thing of beauty, Louboutins are in touch with the needs of modern women while adding dash and glamour to refined feet around the globe. With equal attention paid to the structure and embellishments, Louboutin’s creations marry exceptional technical advances with up to the minute styling. To paraphrase Nancy Sinatra, these shoes were most definitely made for walking. Let’s just hope the Bespoke pair are too.
CONTACT
Christian Louboutin
Al Khayyat Centre
Jeddah, KSA
Tel +966 2 665 5558
Christian Louboutin
Fakhry Bey Street
Beirut, Lebanon
Tel +961 1 970 625
Christian Louboutin
Mall of the Emirates,
Dubai, U.A.E
Tel +971 4 399 0998
Beymen Cairo
Four Seasons Nile Plaza,
Cairo, Egypt
Tel +202 792 6679
