Christian Louboutin (shoe designer) - Essay Example

? Introduction The research of Christian Louboutin is important and should be understood by design practitioners who strive to transforms form, concept, and color from historical and artistic sources into designs that assimilate the designers’ inspirations. Christian Louboutin is a prominent French designer whose footwear has entailed shiny, red-lacquered soles, which have grown to become his signature. Christian Louboutin can be regarded as one of the most creative and prominent designers working today. Initially, his unique red-soled shoes were seen as a top secret treasure of an elite circle of Louboutin enthusiasts; nevertheless, sustained media attention has introduced Louboutin to the world and heralded unparalleled levels of popularity. As a result, Louboutin is worn by both fashion insiders and fashion-mindful celebrities and stylish women. The research of Christian Louboutin (shoe designer) is critical and should be understood by designer practitioners who strive to create unbeatable, unique brands. The essay seeks to engage students within a search for and analysis of contemporary design research. Background Louboutin started sketching shoes in his early teen years at the detriment of his academic endeavours. Louboutin had minimal formal training comprising of drawing and decorative arts at the Academie d’Art Roederer. For more than two decades, Louboutin’s designs including boot made from various animal hairs and a towering ten-inch slipper has been a market leader of luxury shoe design. The multiplicity of detail, form, and style are embodied in Louboutin’s shoes and designs can be regarded as reinforcing the allure of his one-of-a-kind creations (Welters and Lillethun 2011, p.511). Louboutin’s success can be partly linked to his love of travel, entertainment, and architecture, which guarantees that no two pairs of shoes are analogous (Craik 2009, p.29). Louboutin entered into the fashion industry in 1982 when he started as an intern at Charles Jourdan. For the subsequent decade, Louboutin learned his craft as he freelanced for high-profile fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel. It was in 1992 that he launched his first shoe boutique in Paris, a number that has risen to over twenty five boutiques across the globe. Louboutin’s sought to avail his clients with an unbeatable experience, given that for each collection that he produced he would select artisans with certain skills, maintaining that it was essential to have his shoes crafted by skilled craftspeople rather than modern, mass-production machines (Welters and Lillethun 2011, p.512). Louboutin’s unique designs can be regarded as mainly influenced by fantasy, sex, and playfulness (Vartanian 2012, p.8). Discussion Louboutin’s distinct designs and signature features red-sole, high-heeled shoes are highly popular, especially among celebrities. Louboutin applies individualized approach when designing his collections to guarantee that he generates consistently innovative and desirable collections. His designs can be regarded to be in different, but highly appropriate design. This reinforces the notion that Louboutin’s shoes are not simple pieces of clothing, but also pieces of art (Renfrew and Renfrew 2009, p.117). Louboutin managed to develop an unmistakable signature by ensuring that all of his shoes featured bright red soles. A characteristic pair of his luxury shoes might also feature a stiletto heel and upper parts of coloured leather or exotic reptile skins. The price of the shoes normally ranges around $800 a pair. Louboutin’s shoes are renowned globally for their remarkably innovative design and distinctive glossy red sole. Louboutin’s lacquered red sole trademark is perceived as a “subtle status symbol” and can be regarded as highly alluring relative to the overt branding of the big-name luxury brands (Rauf and Vescia 2007, p.16). Louboutin contended that his utilization of the red colour mirror his conviction that red colour is a symbol of passion, blood, and love. As a woman slips her feet into a pair of Louboutins, it makes her feel as if she is blowing lipstick kisses with each step she makes. The red soles avail the pleasure of secret knowledge to the shoe wearer and a feeling of serendipity to the beholder promising a world of glamour and privilege. According to Louboutin, women mostly want to look sexy for others, more than self, a feeling that awards them self-confidence (Gerval 2009, p.36). Louboutin’s shoe designs are unique based on the fact that they are wholly hand-made and customized to the degree that, even the trademark is engraved devoid of any machines. The extensive influence of Louboutin’s shoes can be confirmed by the fact that numerous celebrities praise the shoes, such as Jennifer Lopez who released a song labelled Louboutin. In addition to the adornment, the silhouette of the shoes draws attention to the shoe wearer. Usually, Louboutin utilizes protrusions and cantilevers, plunging cleavage and bulging heel cups. One of Louboutin’s most prominent designs, the Very Prive, features a twisting high heel manifesting an open toe and an excessive, hidden platform. Louboutin played a critical role in aiding to bring stilettos back into fashion during 1990s and 2000s by designing dozens of styles detailing heel heights of 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher. Louboutin contended that his main objective centred on “making a look sexy, beautiful, to render her legs look as long as (he) can” (Knackstedt 2013, p.340). Louboutin also designs some lower-heel styles; nevertheless, Louboutin is mainly associated with his dressier evening-wear designs featuring jewelled straps, feathers, bows, red soles, patent leather, and other analogous decorative touches (Renfrew and Renfrew 2009, p.118). Evidently, Louboutin can be regarded as fashion elite given that he has created a brand that is highly reputed and celebrated across the world for over two decades. Christian Louboutin’s shoes can be perceived to possess a life changing influence on the lives of women. One of Louboutin’s most popular comments detail “most women wants to be a show girl” and as such, his shoe designs given women the platform to showcase showgirl aesthetic (Rauf and Vescia 2007, p.17). The large number of counterfeit shoes and their replicas is a testament to the enormous acceptability of the brand, and the degree to which ladies are desperate to grab the brand. Louboutin’s shoes make their wearers feel a notch above the rest of the fashionistas. In the fashion world, Louboutin’s shoes have become a synonym to intricate layout and quality (Cox 2004, p.12). Louboutin can be regarded as having highly controversial ideologies on shoes, to the extent that, he has been disparaged for designing such high heels deemed to be uncomfortable. Louboutin contends that he dislikes the whole concept of comfort. According to Louboutin, comfort robs a person the numerous ideas that come with novelty (Gerval 2009, p.37). The Louboutin’s shoes are colourful and diverse and every pair serves as an epic to femininity and the beauty of being a woman. The femininity championed by Louboutin is not about daintiness or passivity, but that of women who are elegant, strong, and confident. Wearing a pair of Christian Louboutin brings a transformative quality to women and can be considered as engaging women in creating beauty. This comes out of a realization and understanding on how women want to perceive themselves as compelling, stylish, and beautiful (Anthony and Doonan 2012, p.46). Christian Louboutin can be regarded as an artist, showman, and designer and his products have consistently been named the “most prestigious women’s shoes.” Throughout his career, Louboutin has managed to win several awards from Fashion Group International, an organization that avails insights on prominent fashion trends in person, print, and online marketplace. In 2012, Louboutin won U.S. court bid to protect red sole; although, the court noted that no single colour can be trademarked in fashion the court also held that Louboutin’s high-heeled shoes are so unique to the extent that they deserve trademark protection. In the ruling, the court also noted that other parties such as Yves Saint Laurent preserve the right to produce and sell monochromatic red shoes (in which both the outsoles and uppers are wholly red). Christian Louboutin’s shoe designs aligns with shoe-couture, reflecting modern look, transforming fashion design in which each pair of shoes possesses its own alcove. Presently, Louboutin’s brand continues its pursuit with simplicity and optimism, where Louboutin’s creations appear like jewellery for the feet. Louboutin contends that shoes are not merely an accessory, but rather form part of their body language (Vartanian 2012, p.9). Louboutin has succeeded in finding expression in the breathtaking colours and remarkable details of his shoes. His shoes design mirror capability to playfully seductive nod to fetishism and sex. Louboutin’s designs are also impacted by the work of other designers who introduce artwork into their pieces such as Yves Saint Laurent. Louboutin shoe designs demonstrate his capability to synthesize the ideas of designers, historical trends, and artists to produce shoes, which are referential yet entirely his own. Genuine Christian Louboutin is keenly made from fine leather. The silhouette of the shoe is streamlined to create subtle curves with a sturdy heel positioned to improve comfort. Louboutin’s shoes are designed to be exclusive an exquisite rendering them to be timeless, yet modern while at the same time radiate subtle sex appeal (Gibson 2012, p.36). Louboutin’s shoes can be deemed to have been successful in catering for woman’s ego while simultaneously adhering to its luxury status by satisfying the highest of consumerist standards, and preserving exclusivity and mystique (Gibson 2012, p.37). Evidently, majority of Louboutin’s designs can be described as whimsy; nevertheless, Louboutin also generates other styles derived from harder-edged subject matter. High heels have for long periods been linked to fetishism detailing an intimate association of an object or material with sexual desire. Louboutin utilizes several elements of fetish shoes such as extremely high heels, bondage-related details, and leather. The insinuations of pain, power, and pleasure perfectly align with the fetishist subculture, which has gained prominence in shoe couture (Knackstedt 2013, p.339). Consequently, the wearers, as well as observers of Louboutin shoes embrace the explicit sexuality of their revealing cuts, exaggeration of female posture, coupled with the bold suggestion of strength and domination (Steele 2005, p.4). In recent times, a distinct form of obsession has become part of Louboutin shoes centring on the fetishism of conspicuous consumption. Majority of women who purchase Louboutin’s shoes crave a luxury lifestyle rather than an erotic extreme. Louboutin designs contend that designs for each woman’s “inner showgirls” and considers that a successful shoe is one that maintains and accentuates nudity, elevating the foot as the object of desire (Garcia, Reinhardt, and Malkovich 2011, p.6). To this end, high-end spending has substituted sex as the measure of female satisfaction while demand aligns with the desire to create the allure of the sexy shoe. Louboutin shoe designs emphasize the intrinsic sexuality and elegance by designing more sexy shoes that are less dressy. As such, Louboutin’s shoe designs combine sexiness with elegance. Louboutin shoes draw immense inspirations from nature and embody a delicate floral print. The delicate crystals, flurries of marabou feathers, and rich satin ribbon reflect Louboutin’s appreciation for the glamour and Hollywood style. The flash of a Louboutin red shoe represents a sign of status and generates the illusion that the wearer’s lifestyles (not just their sartorial tastes) imitate those of the rich and famous. Indeed, the aspiration to flash a red Louboutin sole has gained prominence among fashion-conscious to the degree that red sole was trademarked so as to put off imitators. Christian Louboutin transforms form, concept, and color from historical and artistic sources into designs, which assimilate the designers’ inspirations. Louboutin’s playfully sexy shoes stir desire for women who wear the shoes, as well as the lifestyle that they represent. Christian Louboutin takes inspiration from showgirls, an observation that can be easily misconstrued; nevertheless, this can be regarded as a paradox as the fetish for razor-sharp stilettos demonstrates that they can both sexualize and empower the wearer. Louboutin’s brand can be regarded as empathizing with the customers’ intimate desires transforming them to be an object of desire while remaining firmly in control (Robson 2013, p.56). Most people wear what they feel great and comfortable in; women equally want to feel feminine and happy. Consumers usually purchase Louboutins to satisfy the desire to be seen in them, as well as take advantage of the confidence, sex appeal, and poise that the shoe provides. Conclusion Louboutin can be regarded a master in shoe couture as his distinct, yet controversial designs represent highly crafted works of art in wearable form. Louboutin’s artistic and theatrical designs range from stilettos, studded sneakers, lace-up boots, and bejewelled pumps. Over the years, Christian Louboutin has grown to become a global luxury brand distinguished for its sense of style, whimsy, innovation, and passion. Louboutin’s iconic red shoe is distinctly identifiable and can be regarded as the product of influence of worlds of showgirls and culture, exotic travels and nature. A pair of shoes from Christian Louboutin heels can be regarded as the ultimate status symbol for the contemporary woman. One can easily spotlight a Louboutin based on the iconic red soles that embody the epitome of luxury, wealth, and power. References List Anthony, C., & Doonan, S. (2012). Shoegasm; An Explosion of Cutting Edge Design, New York, Book Sales, Incorporated. Pp.46. Cox, C. (2004). Stiletto, London, Harper Collins. Pp.12. Craik, J. (2009). Fashion, Oxford, Berg. Pp.29-130. Garcia, C., Reinhardt, E., & Malkovich, J. (2011). Christian Louboutin, New York, Random House Incorporated. Pp.6. Gerval, O. (2009). Fashion accessories, London, A & C Black. Pp.36-37. Gibson, P. C. (2012). Fashion and celebrity culture, Oxford, Berg Publishers. Pp.36-37. Knackstedt, M. V. (2013). The interior design business handbook a complete guide to profitability. Hoboken, New Jersey, Wiley. Pp.339-340. Rauf, D., & Vescia, M. (2007). Fashion designer, New York, NY, Ferguson. Pp.16-17. Renfrew, E., & Renfrew, C. (2009). Developing a collection, Lausanne, Switzerland, AVA Academia. Pp.117. Robson, R. (2013). Dressing constitutionally: Hierarchy, sexuality, and democracy from our shoes, New York, Cambridge Univerity Press. Pp.56. Steele, V. (2005). Shoes: A lexicon of style, London, Scriptum Editions. Pp.4. Vartanian, I. (2012). High heels: Fashion, femininity and seduction, Tokyo, Goliga. Pp.8. Welters, L., & Lillethun, A. (2011). The fashion reader, Oxford, Berg. P.511-512. Read More