Paint The Town Red

L’Exhibition[niste] is the largest exhibition ever to be dedicated to Christian Louboutin’s work, and perhaps more surprisingly, the first one to take place in his hometown of Paris. The designer himself tells us more…

- Ian Lee

Christian Louboutin is rolling out the red carpet for you and your red-soled shoes, inviting one and all to L’Exhibition[niste] – the biggest exhibition ever to showcase his work, and the first one to be held in his hometown of Paris. Despite the scale of the exhibition (with its 10 concept rooms and all their sensory treats), the display manages to remain personal and intimate – as if one were exploring the very mind of Monsieur Louboutin himself.

For one, the exhibition is being held in a venue that seems humble and unexpected, until one realizes the significance it has had on Christian Louboutin’s life and creativity. He was born nearby in the 12th arrondissement and began visiting the Palais de la Porte Dorée when he was as young as 8-years-old, he tells us. It all started from there: One fateful visit, he noticed a sign forbidding visitors to wear high heeled shoes. That very sign intrigued him enough to provide the inspiration for one of his most recognizable designs: the Pigalle pump.

Beyond the most notable of Christian Louboutin’s shoes created during his over 30-year-career (including some for Yves Saint Laurent and Roger Vivier, before he started his eponymous brand in 1991), Louboutin has dedicated half of the exhibition to “things that I have loved more or less all my life”, he says. Think Warhol’s Flowers that led to the Pensée shoe, vernacular pottery, a Bhutanese royal crown, and 18th-century paintings by the late Pierre Molinier. “These

BHUTANESE THEATER