Christian Louboutin retrospective in the Design Museum London

The Design Museum presents the first UK retrospective of iconic French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, celebrating a career which has pushed the boundaries of high fashion shoe design. Louboutin’s exquisite shoes, with their instantly recognisable glossy red* soles, are a unique fusion of fashion, craftsmanship, engineering and sculpture.


This exhibition celebrates Louboutin’s career to date and showcases twenty years of designs and inspiration, revealing the artistry and theatricality of his shoe design from stilettos to lace-up boots, studded sneakers and bejewelled pumps. Louboutin’s shoes are the epitome of style, glamour, power, femininity and elegance. Drawing from Christian Louboutin’s personal archive, the exhibition presents his celebrated shoe designs, referencing the origins of the iconic red sole, through to the latest Louboutin collections including a range for men and desirable handbags. A dramatic exhibition environment will present Louboutin’s artistic personality and creative approach. It will examine the many sources of his creativity, shoes inspired by performance, cabaret and the showgirl; fantasy and fairy tale; art and architecture; film; landscape and travel. The exhibition will also focus on the handcrafted shoe, one-off designs which incorporate his highly innovative ideas, forms and materials. There will be a special section dedicated to the shoes designed for ‘Fetish’ an exhibition at the La Gallerie Du Passage, Paris in 2007, a unique collaboration of photography between Louboutin and acclaimed artist David Lynch.

At the core of the exhibition will be a unique exploration of Louboutin’s design process, taking the visitor through every stage of the design journey, revealing how a shoe is constructed, from the initial drawing and first prototype through to production in the factory. Looking beyond design and production the exhibition will also explore the company’s innovative store design in which Louboutin is always closely involved.

* This week Louboutin has defended his court battle to protect his famous red stiletto soles. Christian Louboutin, who is suing fashion house Yves Saint Laurent for trademark infringement in a U.S. court, argues that he is not trying to monopolize the colour red. The designer said he is defending his ownership to ‘a specific colour in a specific place’ of a shoe.

DESIGN MUSEUM, SHAD THAMES, LONDON
1 May – 9 July 2012
designmuseum.org

Christian Louboutin’s shoes in the Virtual Shoe Museum collection.

Photo shoe by Reuters