Sole Desire
Anybody who likes red-carpet fashion can recognize a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes by their trademark red sole. The excellent exhibition, “Sole Desire: The Shoes of Christian Louboutin,” currently on view at the FIT Museum, traces Louboutin’s Hollywood-driven career. The show reveals that Louboutin’s shoes became wildly popular only after young starlets started wearing them on the red carpet. Louboutin embraces his relationship with Hollywood and its media exposure. In recent years, the brand’s fame has risen to the ranks of Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, coinciding with the rise of celebrity-driven culture.
Louboutin’s current work strikes a balance between elegance and sexiness, marking a departure from his earlier pieces, which were often cutesy and humorous. A pair of lilac, pointy-toed Mary Janes with a two-inch heel and a pansy on the strap from 1994 is not nearly as sophisticated as Louboutin’s shoes nowadays. And a pair of 1993 patent leather pumps, with heels built out of Guinness beer cans, exposes Louboutin’s comical side. The contrast between his earlier and later designs is striking, yet the stylistic change is reconcilable with current trends. Throughout, the exhibition underscores Louboutin’s flair for shape and color, some of the guiding themes of his work.
The show ends April 19.
The Museum at FIT is located at 7th Avenue and 27th Street, and admission is free.
Open: Tuesday-Friday 12 p.m.–5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.