Sweet little Things Blog

Oh, that fabulous red soles! Irresistable, timeless and every womans shoe collection must-have. But what is the story behind that worldwide popular red soles and the man who created them? Well, let's find out!

Ah, ti famozni crveni potplati! Neodoljivi, bezvremenski i must-have svake ženske kolekcije cipela. Ali koja je priča iza ovih planetarno popularnih crvenih potplata i čovjeka koji ih je stvorio? Saznajmo!

Believen or not Louboutin was quite a rebelious teenager. At the age of 12 he had already moved twice out of his parents' house and was also expelled from school three times. At the time he started to express his love for design and shoes. He started sketching some shoe designs but it wasn't until 1976 that he realized this is what he wants to be doing. That year the entire idea sparked and, as he claims, that's when his fascination with shoes began. In 1976 Louboutin visited the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie where he stumbled upon an African sign indicating that women were not allowed to wear high heels in order not to ruin wooden flooring. "I wanted to defy that, I wanted to create something that broke rules and made women feel confident and empowered." Louboutin said. He was further inspired by a book of Roger Vivier's designs who designed shoes for Dior back in 1950's.

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Vjerovali ili ne Louboutin je bio prilično problematičan tinejdžer. Kao 12-ogodišnjak već se dva puta odselio iz roditeljske kuće i bio izbačen iz škole čak tri puta. U to je vrijeme počeo pokazivati sklonost prema dizajnu i cipelama. Počeo je stvarati skice nekih cipela no tek je 1976. godine shvatio da je to ono čime se doista želi baviti. To je godina kada je cijela ideja započela kao i, kako i sam navodi, vrijeme kada je započela njegova fasciniranost cipelama. 1976. je naime posjetio Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie gdje je nabasao na afrički znak prema kojem je ženama bilo zabranjeno nositi potpetice kako nebi uništile drvene podove. ,,Želio sam to poreći, želio sam stvoriti nešto što će prekršiti pravila i ućiniti da se žene osjećaju samopouzdane i sposobne.'', rekao je Louboutin. Kasnije ga je inspirirala knjiga Roger Vivierovih dizajna koji je u 50-ima dizajnirao cipele za Dior.

His first job was at the Folies Bergères cabaret where he did all sorts of jobs, assisted the entertainers backstage for example. He also got to desing some of the dancers shoes which was, at the time, a dream come true. He landed a job with Charles Jourdan in the early 1980s. After that, Louboutin met Roger Vivier and became an apprentice in Vivier's atelier. For a time he worked as a freelance desinger for some of the high couture brands such as Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Maud Prizon. Louboutin took his carrer a step further in the early 1990's by seting up his first ever shop. Louboutin had to find a trademark that would be something significant for his shoes. And here comes the story about that famous red soles. The story is actualy pretty simple, his assistant was painting her nails with a red nail polish, he took a look at her and decided to color he outer soles red. Louboutin keept the red ever since because his customers really liked it. His first customer was, believen or not- Princess Caroline of Monaco. On one occasion she complimented Louboutins work in presence of a journalist and that was the moment he gained a lot of public attention.

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Njegov prvi posao bio je u Folies Bergères kabaretu gdje je radio mnoge poslove kao npr pomagao plesačicama iza pozornice. Također je dobio priliku dizajnirati neke od cipela za zabavljače što mu je, tada, bilo ostvarenje snova. U ranim 80-ima je sklopio posao sa Charles Jourdanom, a nakon toga je upoznao i Rogera Viviera te postao šegrt u njegovom ateljeu. Neko vrijeme je honorarno radio za kuće visoke mode poput Chanela, Yves Saint Laurenta i Maud Prizona. Louboutin je svoju karijeru odveo korak naprijed kada je ranih 90-ih otvorio svoj prvi dućan. Morao je pronaći pečat koji bi bio prepoznatljiv za njegove cipele. I sada dolazimo do priče o crvenim potplatima koja je zapravo vrlo jednostavna. Njegova pomoćnica je lakirala nokte crvenim lakom, bacio je pogled na nju i odlučio da će obojati sve svoje potplate u crveno. Louboutin ih je ostavio crvene do dan danas jer se njegovim mušterijama to jako svidjelo. Prva mušterija mu je, vjerovali ili ne, bila princeza Caroline od Monaka. Jednom je prilikom pohvalila Louboutinov rad u prisutstvu novinara i to je bio trenutak kada je privukao veliko zanimanje javnosti.

His career has been growing constantly ever since and now he is probably the most famous shoe designer in the entire world with a lot of stores all over the world. Through the years Louboutin expanded his fashion range to bags and men shoes as well as made a beauty range of lipsticks, lip laquers and nail polishes with quite a statement packagings. Today Louboutins range all the way from $400 to $6000 per pair and are often worn by some of the biggest celebrities today, in fact, I can't think of a famous female person who doesn't own a pair of this red soled beauties. All I can say for last is: keep up the good work Mr. Louboutin!

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Njegova karijera još uvijek konstantno raste i sada je vjerojatno najpoznatiji dizajner cipela na cijelom svijetu sa mnogo dućana otvorenih diljem svijeta. Tijekom godina proširio je svoju ponudu i na torbe te cipele za muškarce, ali i na kozmetičku kolekciju u čijoj su ponudi trenutno ruževi, tekući ruževi i lakovi za nokte upečatljivih pakiranja. Danas se cijena Louboutanki kreće od $400 pa sve do $6000 za par i vrlo ih često nose neke od najvećih zvijezda današnjice, zapravo, mislim da se ne mogu sjetiti niti jedne poznate ženske osobe koja ne posjeduje par ovih ljepotica crvenih potplata. Sve što mogu reći za kraj je: nastavite dobar posao G. Louboutin!

How do you like this story? I find it very interesting, inspring and incredible all at the same time. Also let me know how do you like the idea of 'Designer Focus' series. Story of which designer would you like to hear next?

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Kako vam se sviđa ova priča? Meni je i jako zanimljva, inspirirajuća i nevjerojatna u isto vrijeme. Recite me što mislite o ideji 'Designer Focus' postova kao jednoj seriji postova. Priču kojeg dizajnera biste htjeli čuti sljedeću?

Photos source: https://www.instagram.com/louboutinworld/