IN HIS SHOES

For his largest exhibition ever, Christian Louboutin opens up his world of whimsical curiosities at the Art Deco Palais de la Porte Dorée. Amy Yasmine heads to Paris to discover the exhibitionist side of the shoe maestro in an exclusive interview.

- Amy Yasmine

How ironic to be staring blankly at a “No Heels Allowed” signboard at an exhibition fêting an iconic shoe designer. It was just days before Paris Fashion Week, and naturally, I had worn my best four-inch metallic slingbacks to discover Christian Louboutin's largest-ever vernissage, at the Palais de la Porte Doreé. “Uh oh,” I thought to myself, looking down at my own pair of heels, wondering if I was going to be allowed in for fear of diminishing the antique wooden floors. Little did I realise that this wasn’t just any ordinary signboard. As it turns out, it was the starting point of the shoemaker’s glittering career, his journey imaginatively explored through a retrospective held at an institution so dear to him.

“When I first discovered the signboard at the Palais—a child at that time—I was confused as to why it was designed like that,” Louboutin opens this interview. “It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, especially back then when heels were just no more than two inches high. It left such an impression on me, that it later became the blueprint of a shoe I designed.” This shoe in question is none other than the Pigalle, the five-inch heeled stiletto which since its introduction in Autumn/Winter ’04, has adorned Hollywood glitterati and musicians from Angelina Jolie to Madonna, as well as every fashionista worth their red soles.