One of the best Exhibits here in Toronto this summer is the Christian Louboutin, Celebrating 20 years of Design, Artistry and Magic at the Design Exchange. The Exhibit is showing from June 21 to September 15, 2013. This show was actually curated and originally presented at the Design Museum in London, England. They did a great job as this presentation about Christian Louboutin and the Shoes were informative, fantastic, fun, flashy, glamorous and extravagant. We learnt about the man, the designer, how he creates his magic then turning it into reality through the shoes. Everywhere were shoes, shoes and shoes as you will see a glimpse here which I am so excited to share with you.
Part of the Exhibit presented Louboutin's Studio. The floor was Louboutin Red and lots of photos, books, and Art used as his sources of inspiration. He use the Trapeze to exercise. There was also a note from his most notable client, Miss Piggy beside the shoes Louboutin made especially for her.
Creativity at Work. Everything starts with a drawing. The shoe was part of Louboutin's Fetish collection which was part of the Exhibit. Photography was not allowed on that part of the Exhibit because there were nude photographs on display taken by David Lynch.
Pluminette.
Christian Louboutin never had any formal training in design or shoe making. He learnt about Costume Design when he worked at his first job at Folies Bergères, assisting the dancers when they dressed up. Then he apprenticed with French shoe maker and designer, Charles Jourdan and freelanced with the Haute Couture houses in Paris. I included this photo of the Pluminette because this shoe was inspired by the Birds' feathers. Louboutin explained that even dancers would wear birds' feathers as part of their costume when dancing. So inspired by both the birds and the dancers, that he incorporated that inspiration into this Shoes.
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This shoes was Louboutin's tribute to the late Yves Saint Laurent when he presented his last Haute Couture Collection in 2002.
These shoes were worn by the models during the Runway show.
The Lady Max was inspired from the movie Mad Max.
The two ladies behind are The Ladies Max.
Watch out, it's Kryptonite and Asteroid.
Let Me Tell You, a secret...
Louboutin was inspired by flowers and even placed flower petals inside the plexi glass heels.
There was a short film titled The Showgirl featuring Dita Von Teese.
Christian Louboutin called this shoe the Dita Von Teese with matching glitters and jewels.
Shoes created by Louboutin inspired by Royalty: Marie Antoinette was inspired by late Queen of France which was also inspired by Sofia Coppola's movie about the late Queen. The shoe was especially hand stitched by Lesage. Notice that the master crafters from Lesage even hand stitched the name of Christian Louboutin at the bottom of the yellow shoe. The photo on the right were inspired the Queens of Spain and France, La Reine D'Espagne and Eugénie, the suede material and diamonds effect on the shoe reminded me of Napoleon's Royal Apartments at the Louvre.
Fairy Tales do come true... in Louboutin's Cinderella.
Faberge Egg and mannequin was originally a window display in Louboutin's London flagship store.
In this Exhibit, I learnt that every fantasy and inspiration of Louboutin were manifested into his designs and production line. Just like the mannequin coming out from a Faberge egg dressed like the Black Swan in the famous Russian Ballet by Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, wearing this shoes created solely out of ribbons and supported by transparent material PVC. We examined the shoes closely because we thought this is so unbelievable, this is a shoe that will not last in the real world, and so exquisite but it is real! That is the world of Louboutin, he turns his artistry and magic into reality through the Shoes.
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