Christian Louboutin Fall Fashions

Fall is the season that closes the shoe in, and Christian Louboutin's fall collections make that closing luxurious. Boots rise, pumps cover, and finishes deepen — the Pate a Chou pony style and the Malabar Hill style pictured for fall 2013 show the register: rich surfaces and strong silhouettes, with the shiny red-lacquered sole flashing underneath as the wearer moves from pavement to party. This page follows the fall strand of his record in this guide.

The Photos section shows fall footwear from his collections. Pair this page with its spring counterpart for the same signature at its lightest, and with the collections page for the whole season-by-season file. The official Christian Louboutin website is linked in the references. Fall is also the season when footwear earns its keep as clothing: the closed shoe and the boot are worn longest, walked furthest and judged hardest, which is why the fall file rewards the closest reading of any in this series.

Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not this designer's own garments.

The Fall Register in Footwear

In footwear, fall changes construction before it changes decoration. A summer sandal can be a few straps and a sole; a fall boot must enclose, support and weather the season, and Louboutin's fall record shows a heel designer enjoying the extra material — more upper to shape, more surface for finishes like the pony shown on the fall 2013 Pate a Chou, more boot shaft for the line of the leg to work against. The red sole stays constant precisely because everything above it gets heavier.

Color follows the same logic as the clothing collections his shoes are worn with: fall's deeper tones and covered shapes answer tailored coats and evening dresses alike. A Louboutin fall pump is designed to hold its own under a hem at ankle length and to survive being seen mostly in flashes — heel, toe and that lacquered red underside at the step.

Fall on the Calendar

Fall footwear is presented with the fall clothing collections, months ahead of wear, and judged in the same reviews and photographs the news page in this series tracks. The fashion week and runway pages cover that presentation side: fall is when the closed shoe and the boot do their catwalk work, grounding lighter clothes and completing heavier ones.

Read fall against spring and the house's seasonal rhythm appears — enclose and enrich, then open and lighten, one signature throughout. It is the rhythm of a Paris shoe salon founded in 1991 that learned, season by season, how a single red sole can carry a whole calendar. The fall pages of other designers in this guide file coats and knits; Louboutin's files the piece those coats and knits are worn over — a reminder that in a complete wardrobe, the season turns at the ankle as surely as it turns at the shoulder.

Photos