This evening I went to the first UK retrospective of the work of living legend Christian Louboutin. It was an unusual retrospective, due to the fact that the contents was far more recent than feature in most fashion-related retrospectives. Louboutin's relatively short exhibition spanning 20 years were mostly filled with recent designs of his from the past several seasons.
For instance, the spike shoes, which have sparked a recent trend for adding spikes to bloody everything.
Of course I found it predictably delicious all the same.
As far as I'm concerned, his shoes are purely sculptural. I can barely walk in 3-inch sturdy ankle boots, let alone the 5-inch stiletto "Pigalle" pumps that are apparently the designer's bread-and-butter... I also, crushingly, lack the legs required to complete the 'Louboutin effect' of exaggerating and emphasising the wearer's already beautifully shapely pins.
Much of the writing on the walls (literally) spoke of his inspirations, and views on the life purpose of shoes. He, famously, was initially drawn to the effect of high heels from watching showgirls perform in Paris, dazzling like brightly coloured Birds of Paradise, with their glitzy-feathery effect stunning him into a seemingly lifelong, all-consuming leg fetish.
There was even a section explicitly for his "Fetish" series. Louboutin reasons that there are shoes for running, shoes for dancing; why shouldn't there be shoes specifically for the bedroom? Not made for walking, but made to elongate the legs and accentuate the - according to Louboutin - extremely sexual instep. These shoes, with barbed wire, with heels longer than the foot itself, with metal shackle straps, were accompanied by photos of the shoes on large screens creating a dark, kinky, maze-like feel. The photos by David Lynch, are blurry atmospheric shots of naked dancers, chosen specifically for their shapely feet.
Another interesting feature was the remarkable 3D holographic show of Dita Von Teese in a burlesque dance short, an homage to his early inspiration taken from the dressing rooms at the Folies-Bergère.
There was also a very sweet short black-and-white film featuring the designer himself - where he goes to his shop and daydreams of performing a dance on stage, where him and his accompanying dancers are wearing his shoes, the only bit of colour coming from his famous red soles.
There was another section which set the scene in his workroom, one of the things that really encouraged me in terms of design environment - apparently Louboutin despises empty spaces, believing them to be paramount to a prison. He collects and fills his workroom with bits and bobs from his travels that he likes and that inspire him. This gives me a new angle when defending my incredibly messy house: "It's INSPIRATIONAL. I need to be SURROUNDED by my creative influences!"
The main space of the exhibition is laid out like a lavish shoe shop. The friend who accompanied me was so suckered into this image that the "Do Not Touch" signs preventing her from trying them on elicited small growls of frustration.
My favourite shoes featured were the Guiness can heels (inspired by a conversation about recycling), the Rolls Royce shoe (not only amusing and clever, but beautiful too), his cut-out designs:
his lace "undressed" style shoes:
and his "Mexibeads" shoes:
Louboutin's shoes are exquisite objects designed for exquisite people. They are works of art that are: astonishing, inventive, witty and unique to the designer. Most featured in the exhibition are for looking at and cannot possibly for wearing on a regular basis. (Despite what the very precocious pair of twelve year olds were loudly exclaiming as they pranced around the exhibition). Unfortunately, as my friend pointed out, they are very surely moving into the reality TV domain. They are worn by Kardashians, by Desperate Scousewives even! This alarming turn of events needs to be stopped before the brand goes from Dark, Mysterious and Alluring to Loud, Obnoxious and Trashy.
Aside from that, the most important thing I took away from the exhibition was a sentiment expressed by Louboutin; that the most important design of a shoe, is not the object itself, but how it makes the leg look. It's a simple and obvious statement, but it is one that's easily forgotten.
When applied to hats, I must remember that the most important thing in the design process is to ensure the hat flatters the face of the wearer, rather than upstaging it.
