At the highest echelons of fashion, a select few have been able to lay claim to a color. There’s Tiffany blue, the citrus hue of Hermès, and the sandy tan of a Burberry trench. But no brand has been more associated with scarlet red than Christian Louboutin, who has lined the soles of every shoe with the shade since its founding in 1991. But the fashion house is trying on a new palette this season, launching a capsule collection of Nudes, available in stores on July 9.
A red colorway dresses you up: think cherry lips, crimson manicures, and star-studded red carpets. Nudes, on the other hand, dress you all the way down. They’re toasty, earthy, and comfy. The house’s namesake knows first and foremost that nude isn’t a color, but a concept. Led by the Cassia Lace Up, an en pointe ballet dancer fantasy, Louboutin’s nude collection is all about the natural slink of the hips, the curl of the toes, and the warmth of skin on skin.
Christian Louboutin is no stranger to the visual language of ballet. With the level of physical strength, endurance, and flexibility required to create the illusion of lighter-than-air litheness, ballet seems like the perfect metaphor for the designer’s wares, which are curved and feminine as well as bold and sharp. In a 2007 collaboration with film auteur David Lynch, Louboutin debuted the Ballerina Ultima, a deadly giallo fetish heel with a razor-sharp stiletto. The Cassia Lace Up is the Ballerina Ultima’s good twin sister, with silky ribbon straps tied at the ankle and a gentle snub nose of the toe.
While ballet has been considered a pinnacle of strength and elegance for centuries, the pale pink of traditional slippers embodied a narrow beauty ideal. In response, Christian Louboutin created a shoe that could all but disappear next to a variety of skin tones, celebrating the beauty in us all. Available in five sumptuous shades of crepe satin, the Cassia Lace Up is a celebration of what it feels like to truly be at home in your own skin.
CULTURED celebrated the launch of Christian Louboutin’s most recent Nude capsule collection with a fashionable fête at Style Editor-at-Large Jason Bolden’s cocktail bar Damn, I Miss Paris in June, where ballet bows peeked out beneath lightweight summer dresses.
The Nude capsule collection is available both in stores and online beginning July 9.
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