Shoe designer Christian Louboutin goes green

His shoes with their iconic red soles are known to trigger stampedes among fashionistas around the world, but French shoe designer Christian Louboutin is not resting easy.

Sitting on the edge of a sofa, the famed shoemaker perches uneasily until he plucks up a green brocade stiletto pump from a coffee table near him. What better tool than his bespoke bejewelled green heels to deconstruct his expansion theory? Tipped to open his first stand-alone boutique in Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates in October, Louboutin says every one of his stores bears a different, distinct stamp.

"I have more than 20 stores, but what I want is to create something that is unique to one particular store. For instance, there is one colour that I have been dying to use in my shoes — green. But it never sells. It drove me crazy thinking about it. But funny enough, I have always noticed that women who buy green shoes in Paris are women from the Middle East," says Louboutin.

Spurred on by this, the shoemaker to the stars — including Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman and Blake Lively — has incorporated a dash of green in his collection that will hit his stores in the Middle East. "I have realised that green is a really important colour in the Islamic world.

"The fact is, certain colours appeal to certain countries alone. For instance, lavender sells in Paris or a pink in London, so it's always wonderful to learn about different people in different countries."

The iconic shoe designer may be eager to leave his footprints in the Middle East, but he is treading with caution. "I cannot imagine expanding blindly, nor am I obsessed about expanding in every corner of the world. We need to be in control of the production and there is always a human factor involved. I can never compromise on quality."

‘My work is about quality'

He is equally choosy about his collaborations. Recently, he turned down a collaboration with fashion retailer H&M. "This is my company and that makes me a free designer. Not everyone can take such a call, but I can. When you are a free entity, you are free to either accept or turn down proposals. My work is about quality and I am very detail-oriented. For example, when I look at a shoe, I look at its heel or why the sole is a bit thin. If you do a cheaper line, you will have to resign from the path of quality. It will be too hard for me, it will drive me crazy."

Even though Louboutin's sky-high heels have been placed on a pedestal, its iconic maker resembles a tortured soul. Our brief conversation is generously peppered with "it will drive me crazy, just crazy" exclamations.

"My shoes are my fashion and my passion. I know if I do such collaboration, I would look at that collection and think why did I do such a stupid thing — why, why, why?"

We ask him about Jennifer Lopez and her ode to him. Her single Louboutins from her album Love? debuted at the 2009 American Music Awards, where Lopez performed the song live. The pop idol crooned his name more than 30 times in this post break-up song. "It felt great. But the song is not just about me, it is about the freedom of a woman... the freedom she gets from an object. The song goes to say that as long as a woman has a Louboutin, she is free. Her identity is not the same without it," he says.

Though he is bolstered by Lopez's ode, his biggest compliment he says has come from a common man. "My biggest compliment came from a man. He told me: ‘Listen, I have been married for 25 years and I have never look at my wife's shoes. But when she wore your shoes, I actually looked at them.' At that moment I realised that my shoes brought an element of communication between two people who have known each other for more than 25 years. My shoes created a bond — that's what I love," says Louboutin.

But he is not as enthusiastic about creating men's shoes. Earlier in the year, Louboutin had dabbled in designing men's shoes which were showcased at Dubai Fashion Week. But he is quick to put matters into perspective. "Designing for men is completely different. For instance — men want their shoes to last, while women love shoes and view them as an extension of themselves. Men are a bit neurotic about their shoes: like they polish them every Sunday and even love to see the patina of the shoes. Women don't care, and I love that about them."

Always one to place emotions over money, creativity over technicality and beauty over practicality, it's no surprise that Louboutin is highly selective about designing men's collections. "Mika asked me to design for [him] and I did because what he said touched me.

"He said he understood the sensibility behind my shoes and it would translate well into stage shoes. I understood him. The fact is: I don't design randomly."

DID YOU KNOW?

Christian Louboutin is not just choosy about his collaborations. He is equally particular about his store, its location and its size.

"The look of the store is very important to me. I look into every detail such as the architecture, the size of the store, the height of the ceiling and the galleries above it. The store should finally reflect the flavour of the region too."

He also gave the expansive Dubai Mall a pass while scouting for boutique locations here. "I think the Dubai Mall is much too big and we tend to get lost. When you have a big store, it always looks empty... that is sad. It is like you are walking on a street and you see an empty restaurant. You will never feel like entering it. The same happens with a big store too.

"I want my store to be inviting in terms of its size and it should feel personal," says Louboutin.

An agreement has been signed with local retailing conglomerate Chalhoub Group to open new stores in Riyadh and Beirut too. In January, they jointly opened an independent store in Jeddah (below).

Objet d'art

Christian Louboutin has a penchant for unusual objects. Currently, he is busy trying to make buckles with alabaster.

"I have been trying to shape alabaster with some light behind it so that the lightness and the colour of the alabaster is captured."

Future Plans

Expanding into the Middle East with stand-alone boutiques is top priority, says Alexis Mourot, General Manager of Christian Louboutin.

"Apart from opening these three stores in 2010 — Beirut in July, Dubai in October and Riyadh in November — we are planning to open six more in other parts of the Gulf region like Kuwait, Bahrain or Qatar. Of course, we are very selective about the process," says Mourot.

Louboutin's take on...

The trend that he set that he takes immense pride in: "The construction, where I added that little platform on the inside of a shoe. I took it from the '70s era, and now it's an integral part of every shoe construc-tion."