Shop Louboutin Men's
/Q/
Do you still feel excited when you see someone wearing your shoes?
/A/
Absolutely. It's great! What makes me most happy is when I see someone walking down the street and I'm thinking 'that looks like a great shoe!' and then sometimes I'm jealous thinking 'I wish I had designed that shoe'. Then they turn and it's a red sole, and I think: 'Oh, yes! It's mine!'.
/Q/
Where does your love of playful design come from?
/A/
First of all, I'm designing the thing that I like, and I like to be playful. If I didn't have fun in my work, I would be bored, and the reflection would probably be boring work. I'm someone who likes people very much. I like conversation. Endless conversation. Useless conversation. I like that sort of madness in people's brains – when people look completely normal and then they start talking and you're like 'wow, they're crazy'. I like that mad human nature. I think that's something I reflect in my shoes too. They are made to cheer you up.
/Q/
Why do spikes feature so prominently in your designs?
/A/
When I started putting spikes on things, I had lots of people saying, 'Oh my God – it’s like a dominatrix!', and I was like: 'No, I'm not into bondage or anything!'. The reality, for me, is that it's just a very decorative object that can be perceived in different ways – I like that. I let people run with their imaginations.
/Q/
Where did the red sole come from?
/A/
In around 1992, I made a new shoe and it didn't look as good as my drawing. The drawing was very precise, but when I turned the shoe and looked from the back, it looked very black. The entire shoe became black and it lost the shape. So I painted it and it became the shoe in my drawing.
After that, I thought I'd do coloured soles for my shoes – every season a different one – but then I was looking at the red on women's lips and nails, and thought that although women often do not wear colour, they do not think of red as a colour almost. There is not one interpretation that doesn't see red as a strong colour. There is no downside to red.