I confess that while I can barely afford a single pair of Christian Louboutins, I was as excited to speak with the famous French shoe designer as the hundreds of women lined up at Jeffrey Atlanta in Phipps Plaza one recent Friday to get their high heels signed by the stiletto impresario.
“I’m a woman lover!” Louboutin exclaims, with a raspy, sexy French accent. “And I consider myself a shoe lover.” He emphatically says that a woman’s sensuality is what most inspires him, and he rolls his Rs as he talks about how he loves the curves, red lips and S shape of a woman’s body when “she walks in sky-high heels.”
Fittingly, Louboutin’s collection oozes sex appeal, wit and that certain je ne sais quoi. His red-hot pumps don the feet of the world’s most stylish women. Sarah Jessica Parker, Victoria Beckham, Cameron Diaz, Katie Holmes, Oprah Winfrey, Madonna and hundreds of other Hollywood stars are among his loyal clientele. Owning a pair of “Louboutins” ($600 a pair and up) means you’ve arrived.
“Today a woman told me that she was buying a lot of my shoes, but she would never, ever wear them outside,” Louboutin whispers, almost menacingly. “She said, ‘I just love them; I can wear them naked in my apartment. That’s what I do with them.’” The designer considers this logic completely reasonable. “It is not kinky,” he says. “You know, a woman naked in shoes is something very natural and very normal.”
But it’s not all about surface attraction. Louboutin does not have, nor is he interested in, fashion fantasies. For him, it’s all about shoes. His savvy knowledge of the industry is evident when he talks about what a well-made shoe can do for a woman. “It gives [her] different body language and reshapes the whole figure,” he explains. “It’s true that a woman carries her clothes, but it’s the shoes that carry the woman.”
JEZ: What is your inspiration?
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN: My first inspiration is women–to look at women, to speak to women, to think about women. [I grew up] surrounded by women. I just have to check my memory or stroll around by myself [for] maximum inspiration, but definitely it [comes] from the body language of women and from dancers.
JEZ: You are a true Frenchman!
CL: Absolutely! But also I love objects, so I incorporate a lot of shapes from different objects; it can be a table, a lamp, [anything] that connects with my heart. I collect a lot of things.
JEZ: What’s your favorite possession?
CL: My favorite piece is a Napoleonic chair that I bought 20 years ago. It still has fabric from 1968 [that] I never changed.
JEZ: You are an icon for so many women. Who is your style icon?
CL: Marlene Dietrich is a big style icon for me. She is very much about the legs and the posture.
JEZ: What do you love about shoes?
CL: The shoe gives [a woman] the whole package, you know? When you feel good in a shoe, it sort of molds to the body.
JEZ: How does it make you feel when a woman tells you that she wears her shoes naked in her apartment? Isn’t this what Louboutin lore is all about?
CL: I think it’s very, very normal. I’m happy, because if a woman [thinks that] she can go naked in shoes, she is thinking of shoes as the main element, so the shoe doesn’t dress her up but leaves her totally in her nudity. It’s a huge compliment.
JEZ: How do you buy a perfect pair of shoes?
CL: You just look at yourself and you know! When a woman is trying on shoes, she looks at herself, not at the shoes. If she likes herself, then she is comfortable. I don’t see how you can please anyone if you don’t like what you put on. It starts with you!
JEZ: What pair do you think is perfect for the Atlanta woman?
CL: A good pump. Mine is called Petit Rat, and it comes from ballet–a ballerina pump. It [has] the shape of a pointe, is really beautiful and fits perfectly. It’s a low cleavage [shoe], so it [maximizes] the length of the leg.
JEZ: What is your favorite pair of Christian Louboutin shoes?
CL: My favorite is the one [still] in my mind that is not finished. It’s in the art of the imagination.