Christian Louboutin

He is currently in London as the head of a judging panel that will find the next face of Martini, where the winner will be receiving a cash prize and 12 pairs of Louboutin heels! When asked whether he considered himself an artist, he said ‘I consider myself more an artisan. Part of my work is dedicated to artisanship and can only be done by very few people because it requires a specific technique. Being an artist is being at the service of yourself; I am at the service of other people.’ Christian Louboutin has also recently begun designing shoes for men. Well, Louboutin says ‘five years ago, I made a studded shoe for a superhero party I went to. I’d never had so many compliments or so many orders, so I ended up producing them. I soon realised there are a lot of men who don’t want traditional shoes.’

Christian Louboutin’s bestselling shoe to dates is the Pigalle, a chic pump with a five-inch heel. However, Louboutin is adamant when saying that the plain pump is by far the hardest style to perfect. He clarifies by saying ‘I compare it to having good bone structure. Make-up will make you look good but it helps if you have a good skeleton to begin with. You can add flowers and diamonds to a pump but, at the end of the day, the structure needs to be good.’

In 2002, he collaborated with Yves Saint Laurent to design shoes for his final runway show and when asked what it felt like to work together, Louboutin stated that it was ‘wonderful, because he was incredibly talented.’ He also made clear that his much publicised quote: ‘I hate comfort!’ was in fact a slight misquote as he actually meant that although comfort is important, designing a shoe to be aesthetically pleasing doesn’t necessarily always involve thinking about comfort. He states that ‘a heel is not a pair of slippers and never will be!’

If you would like to see some of his impressive and utterly inspirational work, he has a small collection of his shoes displayed at the Design Museum until 9 July.