Christian Louboutin Reveals Science Behind Perfect High Heel
提起他的名字，就等于提起高级时装，尤其是顶级奢华的鞋子。这位来自法国巴黎的高跟鞋设计师——克里斯提·鲁布托所设计的高跟鞋是全世界女人垂涎的对象。虽然“红鞋底”在经历了与YSL的专利诉讼之后已不再是克里斯提·鲁布托的独享，但丝毫不影响这个品牌在时尚界的影响力。
His name is synonymous with high fashion and even higher heels.
Christian Louboutin is the Parisian shoe designer whose skyscraper heels are coveted by women all over the world, and eulogized in popular culture by the likes of Jennifer Lopez, who sings a song about them.
The Manufacturing Process of Red-Soled Shoe
But behind each trademark red-soled shoe is a feat of custom engineering. “The heel is engineering in itself,” said the sought-after designer in his Paris atelier. “This little thing that supports the human weight has to have a precise balance.”
The materials needed to create the perfect shoe include wood lasts — a shoemaker’s mould in the shape of a human foot — and supporting metal stems that are inserted into heels, which can measure up to 6.5 inches, to ensure that the wearer doesn’t topple over.
“If you just look at the heel, you are immediately going to see that if there was not the right engineering, it would break,” the designer told us.
“If it is not exactly inside the center of gravity position, inside the gravity line, the weight would make you flip out behind, or the weight would make you break the heel and fall forwards,” he said.
But even with heels measuring just two inches, these metal points still need to be inserted into the heel to perfect the balance of the wearer.
“I wouldn’t say it is an art,” he said, but does admit that “it is complicated.”
虽然算不上一种艺术，但每一双红底鞋的背后都有一套十分复杂的工程设计，这种用来支撑人类体重的物品，必须达到精准的平衡。要制造一双完美高跟鞋需要很多东西，比如：鞋楦（制鞋师所用的模子）、金属杆（用来支撑鞋跟）等。
The Designer’s Personal History
Louboutin was born in Paris in 1964 and was drawn to footwear from an early age. One of his earliest memories is seeing a sign prohibiting the wearing of stiletto heels in a Paris museum — warning of potential damage to the wood floors.
In 1992 he set up his own label, and his shoes, which cost on average $700 a pair, are now stocked in high-end stores across the world. Celebrities and fashion editors love his creations. According to Terresa Cannata, writing for Italian Vogue, “His creations are sexy and original, some playful, some definitely classic.”
Louboutin’s career has taken some unexpected turns, including interning as a teenager at the Folies Bergere music hall theater in Paris. The experience was instrumental to the development of his design aesthetic.
“The shoe is so important because it shows the posture,” he said of the footwear worn by showgirls. “It has to be comfortable ... but it has to give the perfect shape and elongate the legs to the maximum.”
The influence of these showgirls remains evident in his flamboyant and vertiginous designs, and he even named a stiletto shoe after the infamous Paris area of Pigalle, home to dancing girls and the Moulin Rouge.
But his influences are wide-ranging and the embellishments on his shoes are inspired by design motifs as diverse as fish scales, Masai beads and spider webs. The actual build of his shoes, he said, is architecturally inspired and he cites the fluid and seemingly gravity-defying buildings of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer as an important influence.
鲁布托于1964年出生于巴黎，对鞋子的兴趣源于他的童年时代。1992年，他创立了自己的品牌，他设计的鞋子平均每双卖到700美元。现在，明星、时尚编辑都是他的拥趸。鲁布托的设计灵感很大程度上来自他十几岁在剧院实习时见到的舞者，此外，建筑艺术也给了鲁布托很大的启发。
Crazy Infatuation for Christian Louboutin
Though his shoes are often worn by women who want to be noticed, particularly celebrities including singers Beyonce, Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez, and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker, Louboutin says the ideal shoe is one that is able to “appear and disappear.”
By that, he means a pair of shoes that grab the attention of the beholder but also flatter the figure of the wearer to the point that the shoes “vanish with the silhouette.”
And he believes that there is no point wearing a shoe that makes you suffer, however beautiful. Though his shoes are specially cushioned to protect wearers from pain wrought by pressure on the balls and arches of the feet, he also believes that all women are different and so have different pain thresholds.
But as long as women continue to covet his designs he maintains that the sky is the limit in terms of what he can design. “For me there’s no high heel high enough,” he said.
鲁布托鞋子的众多拥趸都是需要大众关注的名人，歌手碧昂斯、蕾哈娜、珍妮弗·洛佩兹，演员格温妮丝·佩特洛、莎拉·杰西卡·帕克等都是红底鞋的超级粉丝。在鲁布托的眼中，理想的鞋子应该是“既看得到又看不到”的，这就意味着一双好鞋应该是既能吸引旁人的眼球，又能最好地衬托穿着者的身姿，使那双鞋本身“融入到整体形象之中”。
（文/ Lianne Turner）
本文系新华网国际频道独家刊载《英语沙龙》文章，转载请注明出处。
