Twenty Years Of Louboutin, A Stiletto Anthology

The Red Sole

Thanks to Louboutin, the sole of a shoe is now just as important as the shoe itself.

"During my designing process for my third collection, I was thinking a lot of Andy Warhol, pop art, bright colors. The first prototype arrived and I was very happy with it, with the heel proportion, a Mary Jane with a big huge flower. Still, I was looking at the drawing and at the shoe, and something was missing. Looking at the sole, it was all black which was not on my drawing because you didn’t see the sole. Sarah, a model, was sitting on the floor and painted her nails in red. I grabbed the polish from her and started to paint the soles. The magic took place. The sole is like a message, the red a signal.”- Christian Louboutin

So important, in fact, that in recent months Louboutin has taken legal action against YSL, claiming trademark infringement for coloring one of their shoe's soles red.