Christian Louboutin Enlists Team of Synchronized Swimmers for Fashion Week Shoe Show
The French national swimming team will be wearing the new Miss Z pumps from French luxury brand Christian Louboutin at Paris Fashion Week. This is no joke - the brand's founder, French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, and American photographer David LaChapelle have teamed up with the French synchronized swimming team to create a unique shoe show.
The show is set to take place Friday at the Piscine Molitor pool. The live musical show will feature 15 artistic swimmers, 14 dancers and highlights from Christian Louboutin's spring 2025 collection.
Introducing the project in an exclusive interview with WWD, Louboutin said that he, like many Parisians, had caught the Olympic fever and even visited the purpose-built aquatic center in Paris, opposite the Stade de France, a few months before the 2024 Paris Games. Louboutin confessed his love for swimming in general and synchronized swimming in particular. Also a big fan of flashy, fantastical shows with good choreography, he was fired up by the idea of incorporating synchronized swimming into his event at Paris Fashion Week.
The project's artistic director is David LaChapelle, who had already worked with synchronized swimmers when he organized a party for the Maybach event during Art Basel Miami in 2009. At that time, LaChapelle called on the swimmers to pretend to be party guests and then jump into the water in formation. For the "Paris is Louboutining" event, LaChapelle envisioned "something fun and very theatrical, Hollywood-style."
Ultimately, the show's creative team, which also included a choreographer, settled on a retro-tinged aesthetic, featuring Fifi Chachnil swimsuits, Vidal Sassoon-style hair, and Biba-inspired makeup. Louboutin's brief for Chachnil was the '40s mixed with modern Miley Cyrus.
Louboutin often worked with dancers, which served him well when it came to dressing synchronized swimmers, who are the equivalent of underwater dancers. “The fit of the shoe has to be very, very different,” he explained. “You have to make sure that when they extend their foot, it doesn’t fall off.”
The designer also had to consider how water could change the colour and patina of the shoes, so he chose patent leather in vibrant colours. “They look like incredible shells underwater,” he said.
We are waiting for Friday, which means photos and reports from the unique underwater shoe show by Christian Louboutin as part of Fashion Week.
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