The Blonde Ambition: The Blonde

Mattel Commissions ‘Drag Queen’ Barbie

By MavyDesign

Mattel has now commissioned the first ‘Drag Queen Barbie’ . Designed by NYC’s design house The Blonds (David Blond and Philippe B...

By MavyDesign

"FRANKENWEENIE" - Tim Burton

By MavyDesign

Tim Burton brought his latest addition to his hallowed filmography to Comic-Con this year. Frankenweenie is ...

Diet Coke designs by Jean Paul Gaultier

By MavyDesign

Following its limited edition Diet Coke bottle designs by Jean Paul Gaultier , Diet Coke has unveiled exclusive ‘Night & Day’...

Lagerfeld The Sculpture

By MavyDesign

KARL LAGERFELD has joined Pope Benedict XVI, Robbie Williams and German chancellor Angela Merkel as a waxwork in his native Germany...

Star Wars Characters

By MavyDesign

Teach The Alphabet To Your Child With Star Wars Characters When married couple and freelance designers Emma and Brandon Peat ha...

Twelve months ago, when curator Donna Loveday went to visit the shoe designer Christian Louboutin in his Parisian atelier to discuss the retrospective exhibition which opens on Tuesday at the Design Museum, her eye kept wandering to the trapeze bar hanging in the corner of the room.

For Louboutin is not just the cobbler who has built a reputation as the purveyor of glossy red soles, the go-to shoe guy for the red carpet set, he is a designer fascinated by showgirls, fantasy and sex.

It was the designer's inspirations and background story that the curators wanted to explore in the exhibition and so the trapeze bar was shipped to London and now hangs in a section of the show that recreates Louboutin's charmingly disorganised workroom.

The exhibition is arranged thematically and relies heavily on Louboutin's assertion that "every woman wants to be a showgirl". From the arched entrance, with its neon-lit "Entrée" sign, to the black swagged curtains, the red velvet sofas, the carousel display and the mirrored plinths surrounded by bare bulbs, which resemble backstage vanity desks, the cabaret look is hard to miss.

Each section explores an aspect of Louboutin's work and career: from his teenage inspirations to his internship as an assistant at the Folies Bergère (where he sketched shoes for the dancers in his spare time) to his brief foray into garden design to his made-to-measure work with specialist artisans. One section houses shoes from his 2007 Fetish exhibition in Paris with accompanying photography by David Lynch.

It is hard to pick a highlight from this slick, theatrical show. With more than 200 pairs of shoes on display, there is more than enough sparkles, feathers, spikes, pom-poms and frills to distract the visitor.

So much, in fact, that it is the most pared-back display, entitled "Shadow Theatre" and featuring just three simple shadows of Louboutin shoe silhouettes, that has the most impact. The shadows strip away all ornamental details and show how the shape of the shoe and heel flows into the foot and ankle.

From the press conference podium Louboutin explains that one of the difficulties of the exhibition was that the shoes were necessarily seen as objects rather than being viewed worn. "When I am designing it starts from a sketch but is never complete until the moment of seeing it on someone's foot," he says.

He also gave some clues as to what might be missing from the exhibition. Telling an anecdote from his time at the Folies Bergère where the showgirls would put veal carpaccio into their shoes for comfort (the lack of blood in the veal makes them more effective insoles apparently) he reiterated that while he wasn't against it in principle, he certainly didn't want his designs to evoke comfort first. He also joked that he had "never met a woman who wanted shorter legs".

designweek.co.uk