Louboutin reopens its fully renovated historic boutique in Paris

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Isabelle Crossley

Published
May 25, 2021

Christian Louboutin is taking advantage of stores reopening in France to unveil the new facade of its historic Parisian boutique located at number 19 on the rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the label announced in a press release. The store is next to the Véro-Dodat covered shopping arcade in Paris' central first arrondissement.

 
The store was the first ever point of sale for Louboutin, which just recently opened up its capital to financial holding company Agnelli Exor. Dedicated to the world of women’s accessories, the store was inaugurated in 1991 and closed its doors at the beginning of February. The site was then completed on May 10. The men's boutique will be next up for a renovation project, starting in June. Inaugurated in 2011 not far from the women’s boutique, the men’s store is located at number 17 on the rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau and it is next in line for a facelift, with its reopening scheduled for the end of August. 
 
For the store’s new look, the elements of the foundational characteristics of the brand have been preserved including its iconic red carpet which references the signature scarlet soles of its high heels and the ornamental cubbies inspired by the architecture of the Véro-Dodat covered arcade as well as a mixture or the textures and colours found in its footwear collections. 

The store also has a cosy, living room-esque feel to it, which the shoe-maker had worked to create from the store’s inception. Louboutin invited two artists to decorate the boutique: Elisabeth Garouste who worked on the furniture and Louis Barthélemy who made a ‘khayamiya’, a round textile appliqué piece two metres in diameter featuring designs of characters from ancient Egypt and the brand’s footwear. 
 
Garouste, who has decorated other Louboutin stores around the world, created organic-style wooden and chalk shelves decorated with gold leaf. 
 
In July last year, the brand shut its Parisian store at 68 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in order to move closer to Rue Cambon and Place Vendôme. The brand then opened a store at number 400 on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris’ first arrondissement. Louboutin thus now has a total of three stores in Paris as well as a shop-in-shop in department store Printemps and in Bon Marché. The brand also retails in around 150 stores in the rest of the world.