Christian Louboutin’s passage into a red kingdom

In January 2026, Jaden Smith made his debut as Christian Louboutin’s menswear creative director. For Spring/Summer 2027, he returned to the ideas he introduced then, building a collection around hybrid footwear, altered classics and the house’s signature red.

Inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes, Smith staged the presentation as an immersive journey through the ruins of an imagined civilisation. His “red kingdom” appeared as if it had been buried beneath the sand for centuries, raising the question of what survives after a civilisation disappears. “Are we moving forward, or simply walking in circles, slowly sinking back into the red sands of time?” he asked.

The story carried throughout the set design. Monumental sculptural feet stood at the entrance, imagined as the remaining fragments of a giant statue, while an engraved stone marked with unreadable script signalled the entrance to Smith’s dream world. Inside, circular stone monoliths, meteorite-like forms and structures inspired by the standing stones of Carnac created the landscape. Shoes and leather were placed as treasured artefacts in niches carved in stone.

It was all about how familiar objects survive, but their meaning changes over time. The collection thus took the classic Louboutin shapes and built upon them. The Plato Loafer and Corteo returned with brass hardware built into the heel and sole. A new colour variation had patent leather fading from black into Louboutin red. Corteo Diam’s had crystals around its edge and the Starry Night Oxford was covered in small glass tubes, giving the shoes a more dressed-up finish.

The smaller details were some of the strongest. A penny loafer moved its coin from the front to the heel and came with laces – a shift on the classic, proving that even the most recognisable forms can still become unpredictable. Smith’s paper cut-outs became leather motifs on the Child Like Wonders shoes and accessories, adding a handmade note to the collection. Stone Masons’ feet had a squared toe made from one piece of leather, while The Jedidiah sneaker sat on an oversized rounded sole.

The references came from everywhere. The Claw-foot shoes echoed the statue at the designer’s Portuguese hotel. The High Hiker nodded to his sister’s love of hiking and gorp-style dressing, mixing leather with recycled fabric. Trapman styles used hidden lacing and Smith’s new Canopy logo, adding a more technical feel.

Smith managed to connect back to the house’s history of making footwear feel slightly theatrical. The colour red appeared everywhere, naturally, but it tied the whole presentation together. The most recognisable element of the brand became the foundation of an entire myth. It was a playful take on the new direction of the brand’s storytelling.