It was extremely exciting to me a big-brand designer like Christian Louboutin, but what made it even more intriguing was to learn more about his passions and what drives him to be so creative.
What’s Up got the pleasure of a one-on-one interview with Christian Louboutin at his flagship store in Al Khayyat Center to talk about his designs and why he picked Jeddah to nest his boutique.
WU: How did you get into becoming a fashion designer?
CL: Many things combined in a way, I have always had a passion for showgirls, musical shows, and music halls, and that was one of the passions I had since I was a child. Another things was my interest in visiting museums, I had one next to my apartment in Paris, in that museum there was this sketch of a woman’s shoe, and that drawing raised a lot of curiosity in me. The drawing was a 1950s drawing back in the 70s.
WU: What was so special about it?
CL: The sketch design, made me realized that everything around us was designed, the sketch was crossed with a red “X” mark in the middle, as a child I wondered about what was forbidden about that shoe, was it forbidden because it is a shoe, or was it forbidden because it represented the feminine side. That drawing kept me thinking. It made me recognize that everything was designed, because this drawing represented the idea of a woman’s shoe, a shoe that doesn’t exist, but it was the idea of it. And that helped reshape my views on design.
WU: Could that red cross or “X” mark have something to do with your signature Red Sole?
CL: I don’t think so, yet it could be the case where it sinked in over the years. I never thought of that.
WU: Observing your signature mark, adds a lot to the character of the shoe, how did that idea develop?
CL: It was an accident, and a happy one for that matter. I was sketching some shoes, and one of them had the same color on the sole, when I looked at it, it seemed bad to me, unlike what I saw in the drawing I made, so I thought that there was something missing there that needs to be added. I realized that the black sole was the issue, so I had an assistant who was polishing her nails, I asked her if I can use her red polish to polish the sole with that color and it became perfect, it looked beautiful, it simply took-off. Adding the red color gave it definition.
WU: You have been featured on Jennifer Lopez’s Love? album, Oprah Winfrey has also invited you on her show, how does all that help in exposing the brand?
CL: I never got on the Oprah show since I got sick and couldn’t make it to Chicago, she asked me to show for at least 10 minutes, I told her I can’t fly for 11 hours to make a 10 minute show, if I do that I will go straight to the hospital.
WU: How would a young designer reach that level of attention?
CL: I really have no idea. But to me the whole concept of female celebrities, are women who really have everything they want, so it is great to be chosen among thousands of other fashion designers. I think that celebrities like my shoes because they are dedicated to them. I sometime kill some designs when I see them in front of me, because they would look bad, so I favor making women looking gorgeous than design. To me design is making women look good.
I have worked with women for a very long time, and I know when they look good or not, and on the other side, I am a man who knows how a beautiful woman should look like, and this combination helps create my designs. I have been designing for women with a feminine touch, that would attract men.
WU: Having your boutique open up here in Jeddah is very exciting, do you have plans to spread over the Middle East region?
CL: Not all over the region, I personally like Jeddah, since this is my forth visit here, it also made sense to me to open in Dubai, but I found this place here to be very charming.
WU: So you started in Dubai then Jeddah?
CL: No, this is my first boutique in the region, I will start here, then Dubai, and Lebanon.
WU: Why Jeddah? Since usually brands start in Dubai then make their way to other parts of the region.
CL: In this industry, there are two things, things that make sense, and also things that are personal. From a business point of you if I wanted to open a flagship store, I would go to Riyadh or Dubai, but what has been always influencing me is that this is my company and I will take it wherever I want, since I favor the places I like, and I like Jeddah.
On that note I am planning on opening in Rome, yet everyone tells me that that doesn’t make any sense, I should open in Milan, yet I like Rome more, it might not sell as much as Milan, yet I will be happy with my decision.
WU: That tells that you put a lot of passion behind your work, I heard an interesting story about picking the couches for this boutique yourself, tell me more about that?
CL: All my boutiques share the same theme, yet every one of them has special added features to make it special and different. I like decorating and getting personally involved.
When I started my company, which was also by accident by the way, I was buying some objects at a gallery in Paris, and the owner of the gallery told me “What about your design?” He added “Why don’t you take that place at the end of the gallery?” I ended up taking that space, which is till now the nest of my company, located in the middle of Paris next to the Louvre. I still love that place, it looks like a movie set for a 1950s Hollywood movie envisioning Paris back then. So I captured the spirit of Paris seen through the eyes of an American director in the 1950s.
WU: So what does reflect Jeddah or Saudi Arabia in this store in particular?
CL: Saudi Arabia has a lot of privacy, so no one from the outside should see who is inside, yet I don’t want the place to be so dim, so I bought these semitransparent bricks of blown-glass from Syria, that are laid in a way to represent the Nabataean’s culture, since I have visited Mada’in Saleh before and was fascinated by there structures. And I think that this design adds a Middle Eastern element to the store.
WU: Did you see a potential for clients here in Jeddah, while you where planning on opening this store?
CL: There are two things about Saudi women, the first is being driven by objects like bags and shoes, since those are the only things that can expose their taste in fashion outside their abayas, the other aspect is that Middle Eastern women are fashion conscious, since they know much more about fashion than other people in general, they try to get as much information about the latest trends through the internet and TV programs. In Paris for example we are surrounded by fashion all the time, that we stop noticing it. In France there are no fashion programs, but when you’re deprived from being surrounded by fashion you will do anything to get more of it, that’s the human nature.
WU: Was adding hand bags to your lineup a natural progression?
CL: Yes it was, I had many clients who loved some of my shoes and wanted a bag that would match them, so I started to create bags for certain lines of my collections.
WU: You also have a men’s collection, are you planning on showcasing them here in this store?
CL: No, and that is for two main reasons, the first is a cultural one, where I want Saudi women to be comfortable browsing through the store in privacy, and the other is that men’s shoes don’t sit properly next to women’s shoes, men’s shoes tend to be big and horizontal, while women’s shoes are vertical and slim, so they don’t look good displayed next to each other. That said, some of my boutiques have a small collection of men’s shoes that are set aside on a table or a corner, but since I am directed towards the feminine way of thinking, most of my shops have a feminine décor.
WU: Now that you have your new store here in Jeddah, will we expect the release of any new lineup once it is officially launched in Paris?
CL: Of course, as soon as the core collection is released in Paris, it will be available at any of my stores around the world, including Jeddah.
www.ChristianLouboutin.com
July 4th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Great interview and I have to say I love the issue