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In February of next year, a landmark exhibition of Christian Louboutin’s designs will open at Paris’s Palais de la Porte Dorée—and for fashion historians and red sole-devotees alike, the retrospective should be a must-see.
The show will display a selection of designs from Louboutin’s oeuvre, which by his own estimate comprises over 15,000 shoes and boots. Among them will be pieces from his personal collection, some of which have never been seen before.
Other shoes set to make their public debut? The sartorial results of Louboutin’s many collaborations. Expect stained-glass made with Maison du Vitrail, a silver Sevillian palanquin, and many more off-the-wall creations.
The show will also include references that have inspired Louboutin’s collections. Many of the designer’s favorite creatives—like director David Lynch, designer pair Whitaker Malem, choreographer Blanca Li, and artists Lisa Reihana and Imran Qureshi—have developed relationships with Louboutin, and collaborated with him in turn.
This exchange is his key to Louboutin’s success, as he continues to crank out hundreds of shoe designs year after year, with no creative plateau in sight. “Where ever I go, there is always a garden to see, or a museum, a church, a concert, some element of architectural design,” Louboutin says, per Vogue Paris. “The main tool I use to stay inspired is open-mindedness, I try to go where others won’t.”
The as-now-untitled exhibition will be on view from February 25 to July 28, 2020 at the Palais de la Porte Dorée. Olivier Gabet, the director of Paris’s Museum of Decorative Arts, is curating the show.
