Paint The Town Red

With the Diwali Edit, Christian Louboutin paysa festive ode to India. The French designer talks about his vision for this collection and his long standing love for the country.

- JISHNG BANDYOPADITYAY

At first glance, Louboutin’s Diwali Edit looks like a frenzied collage from an Indian escapade. Gold zari-esque details and delicate embellishments are layered over hues of fuschia, scarlet, saffron, and canary. Rich textiles sourced from the land that Christian Louboutin shares a 45-year-old relationship with find themselves blending with rhinestones and fishnets, to create a set of footwear that is playful, bold, and unapologetically personal to the designer’s experience of this country. “I don’t claim to know or understand India entirely, that would be quite stupid of me. I am just endlessly inspired by India,” he tells me during his trip to Mumbai, “and how such varied crafts come together here to tell a multifaceted story of celebration.” Right off the bat, Christian comes off as someone acutely aware of how difficult it is to bottle this subcontinent into a capsule collection. “I haven’t tried to do that either. I can create a million collections inspired by India, and this won’t be my last. From chikan to jamdani, the treasures are endless here. For the Diwali Edit, I journeyed through my travels and picked out all that would help offer a piece of this country to the world during the festival of lights. This one edit about India is a drop in an ocean of possibilities.”