Art and Sole

It is no secret that shoe GOD Christian Louboutin has been in some extremely hot water recently with YSL over the iconic red sole. Personally I could not care less who started the red sole, lets be honest no one would be looking at the soles when you're wearing a pair of spike encrusted Bridget Louboutins'. There has obviously been pressure in the Louboutin camp to come up with a unique campaign in order to firmly hold on to its' place as the master of high fashion shoe designers. The campaign is centred around recreations of reneissance and impressionist art incorporating a model from the Fall 2012 collection. François Clouet, Georges de la Tour, Jean-Marc Nattier and Francisco De Zurbaran are several of the artists whose iconic works of art have been incorporated into the undeniably memorable campaign.

The combination of the statement shoes with the equally beautiful masterpieces seems only appropriate considering Louboutins' creations have often been reffered to as masterpieces their own right. Mostly by me. However, I am the first to admit that some of the models from the collection are not at all striking and as much as I want to love them, they just seem too 'try hard'. The Puk boot is the perfect example. I don't care if you're Kim Kardashian, Cameron Diaz or Daphne Guinness if you wear these you are going to resemble a half human half farm animal creature from a poor but big budget remake. A bit like Pierce Brosnan in Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. Do not watch that film. Glad I didn't...

One of the most striking images from campaign is the recreation of James McNeil Whistlers' 'Mother in an Allegory' in which the subject is seen holding The Tootsie boot in the plam of her hand.  My favourite image though is the recreation of a masterpiece by Francisco De Zurbaran where the protagonist is looking at that shoe with the same longing expression I had when I walked into Selfridges two weeks ago and left with clinical depression. A beautiful and elegant campaign for beautiful and elegant shoes, perhaps this will calm the storm of the impending fall from grace which loomed for Louboutin.