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September. However, it did rule that a red sole was admissible
where the entire shoe was red. And so both sides claimed a
victory – YSL saying the shoes did not infringe any trademarks,
and Mr Louboutin pleased that the judges declared the sole to
be "a distinctive symbol that qualifies for trademark protection”.
During a recent interview with CNN Asia, Mr Louboutin
explained the significance to him personally: “It's my name, it's
my company, it's my signature. So, it's basically my life.”
First steps
It is this easily recognisable feature that has helped his
company grow from one small shop in Paris in 1991 to more
than 30 stores in 16 countries selling more than 500,000 pairs
per year. It is the marketing and the top-end positioning of the
brand that makes the shoes so coveted, and makes women
willing to pay upwards of $400 per pair. “I really believe a shoe
is a communication tool between people,” says Mr Louboutin.
Although he isn’t referring to the shoes in this way, the
message they communicate is that the wearer is affluent,
successful and confident. What woman wouldn’t want to be
seen to have those attributes? No wonder Mr Louboutin fought
so hard to be the bearer of that particular message.
The brand did not begin with the red sole, however. That
idea was borne some years later when Mr Louboutin was
examining a drawing and a mock-up of a high-heeled pump,
and struggling with the notion that there was something
missing. Sitting next to a model painting her nails, he grabbed
the red varnish and covered the soles. “And I thought, well, it is
as simple as that. It's really amounts to colour,” he says.
The depth afforded to the shoe led him to plan a different
coloured sole for every season, but “the first season I did a red
sole and it immediately became a signature”.
The rich and famous
He says his ability to empathise with women comes from
growing up with three sisters in a “feminine” environment. “A
lot of women look at shoes the way I look at them – with a lot
of attention, a lot of love,” he says. And the inspiration behind
his designs are often the women themselves. “Sometimes you
come across a woman in the street and the way she walks, the
attitude she has walking, becomes a shoe,” he explains. “And
sometimes I'm thinking of a very specific person.”
Those specific people have included actress Kristin Scott
Thomas and dancer Dita Von Teese, who both appear in his
20th anniversary book published last year, as well as numerous
other famous women including singers Beyonce and Rihanna.
Mr Louboutin’s name was cemented in the mainstream
psyche by the TV series Sex and the City. Heroine Carrie
Bradshaw’s obsession with designer shoes boosted the profiles
of Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, too – although that a
freelance journalist could afford to spend at least $400 on a pair
of shoes stretched the realms of the imagination somewhat. In
fact, in one episode the characters worked out that Ms Bradshaw
could have bought a good-sized New York apartment with the
money she could (theoretically) have saved.
Which leads to the question of cost. What makes someone
pay a comparatively large amount for a pair of shoes –
sometimes in the thousands of dollars – when similar versions
are available at a fraction of the price?
Louboutin uses the analogy of two bottles of wine. “The price
goes from one to 10 times the price – everyone can
understand,” he says. “You have cheap wine, and then you
have more expensive wine.”
He explains that manufacturing processes for high-end shoes
differ vastly to those of the imitations. “A shoe like this will stay
on the last longer,” he says of his own design. “A shoe that
costs less money would be done in two hours – mine would
take probably a week.”
The highest form of flattery?
While the West is in recession and the catchword is austerity,
Mr Louboutin believes people are turning to luxury to counter
the negativity and make themselves feel better. “I do not feel
guilty doing something which is considered luxury, because this
is my work. If you take the cinema industry just after the Second
World War, for instance, it has never been more embellished.
Why? Because at the end of a war, people didn't want to add
to all the miseries they'd been living through.”
One part of the globe that has fared well in the recession is
Asia. In August, Louboutin opened his second store in Hong
Kong, his seventh in China, capitalising on an increased desire
for luxury goods as the population grows and disposable
incomes rise. Where once consumers there would have been
happy with counterfeit goods, a shift in attitudes coupled with a
younger generation that sees high-end goods as status symbols
has meant that demand for genuine Louboutins has rocketed.
While counterfeits might have lost their previous appeal,
anywhere where there is demand there are people willing to
take shortcuts. Earlier this year, UK-based hardware store
Homebase claimed that sales of £1.49 tester pots of paint in
shades of bright red had climbed as women resorted to creating
DIY Louboutin heels. Peter Rooney, a manager at a London-
based branch of Homebase, said: “We have recently noticed a
significant number of girls in the store colour-matching the tester
pots to pictures of designer shoes in fashion magazines and
requesting tips on how to paint on leather or rubber.” It’s a
similar picture elsewhere in the world, as women try to replicate
the Louboutin look at a fraction of the price.
37
THE REAL MESSAGE COMMUNICATED BY THOSE RED SOLES
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
Louboutin’s trademark is the red sole, a flash of which tells the
world which brand they belong to – and, by association, the price.