Seeing RED

Christian Louboutin chats with Manish Mishra about his latest Paris Fashion Week extravaganza & why India continues to remain a lifelong inspiration

- Manish Mishra

From alchemising local cultures with his audacious savoir-faire to crafting collectibles at the crossroads of art and design, Christian Louboutin has seduced the fashion world like no other. Interviewing the designer over a Zoom call is like deep diving into the cerebral and the fantastical. Punctuated with cinema, arts, pop culture and design, Louboutin's worldview is made richer by his travels and driven by an endless curiosity for the whimsical and the wonderful. I compliment him on the rodeo shirt he's wearing, and he shares an interesting anecdote about it. "I collaborated with John Galliano for the Maison Margiela couture show (2024 Artisanal Collection), and he gave me this shirt, which I'm very fond of," he says with a smile.