I share a bet with certain pals that the first half of rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau – a street right next to the Louvre – will be eventually become rue Christian Louboutin...
I share a bet with certain pals that the first half of rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau – a street right next to the Louvre – will be eventually become rue Christian Louboutin. Over the past twenty years, there isn’t one building which doesn’t seem to be part of Christian’s exploding empire. He has his offices, his made-to-measure atelier, his gym and now his spanking new men’s boutique. Unbelievable and also unbelievably wonderful to have watched Christian evolve from a designer who first presented delicate slippers made out of fish skin – I am not imagining this – to morphing into this household name. It sounds naff to write, ‘I always knew...’ but actually I did.
From the word go, Christian defined a journalist’s dream. Not only was he articulate and mischievously magnetic but he was also grounded by his steely sense of self and talent. Parisians can be a little too insular – it’s both their strength and their weakness – but not Christian. He always possessed an international attitude backed up by a boundless curiosity. Before meeting Christian, my social life in Paris was elegant but uneventful. But once we bonded at a jaded playboy’s home, my existence turned to Technicolor. Thanks to Christian, I was introduced to a truly Parisian existence – not unlike a Vincente Minnelli movie but circa 1990s. Suddenly, I met the fabled and fabulous like the gallery owner Pierre Passebon and the fashion muse Farida Khelfa.
To mark Christian’s 20th anniversary, Rizzoli are publishing a vast tome. The photographs will range from his childhood years to a chronology of his designs. Meanwhile, my favourite image of Christian could only be caught on film. It’s of him and Farida - his fellow teenage partner-in-crime. They have a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces in front of them and are killing time before the Le Palace nightclub opens...
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is a Paris-based British journalist who covers fashion and lifestyle as well as being the author of Sam Spiegel – The Biography of A Hollywood Legend, Understanding Chic, an essay from the Paris Was Ours anthology and soon-to-be released Chanel book, for Assouline's fashion series.
Robert Beck is former New Yorker currently based in Paris. Also known as C.J. Rabbitt, he is the author and illustrator of several children's books, including The Tale of Rabbitt in Paradis, Un Lapin à Paris and the soon-to-be-published A Bunny in the Ballet.
