Diana inspired him, he is a trapeze artist… turns out Christian Louboutin is no ordinary designer

And he had a secret movie role

It's safe to say Christian Louboutin is no ordinary designer - just look at these unicorn boots or the fact Carrie Bradshaw had to pay for her Louboutins if you don't believe me. But even I wasn't prepared for these weird and wonderful facts I learned from the Christian Louboutin Rizzoli Book...

He left school early

Christian was thrown out of school aged 15 , but he never had regrets after seeing Sophia Loren in a documentary where she spoke of going back to school later in life, he thought he could do the same should he need to.

He was a landscape gardener

Before becoming a shoe designer, Christian forged a career as a landscape gardener and still sees textures and fabrics colours when designing in terms of florals and plants.

He never creates in Paris

Christian leaves Paris to design his collections, choosing a hot location when working on summer collections, and a cooler climate for winter collections.

Nail polish started it all

The red sole was created when he stole his assistants red nail varnish to cover the existing black sole on a shoe (the Pensée, like the one below), he loved the result he produced them all with a red lacquered sole from then on.

He's a bit of a legend in the music world

The brand name has been referenced in multiple pop songs over the years, Jennifer Lopez even released a track simply called ‘Louboutins’.

He makes shoes out of random things

Christian once made a shoe from an old Guinness Beer can for his Spring Summer 1994 collection. He also loves using extraordinary materials for his creations, including mackerel and salmon. Christian once decorated a shoe from rubbish he found in a bin at his factory – he now calls them his time capsule. Mule Trash, Spring Summer 1999.

He once created a pair of shoes for Princess Diana

The Love shoe was inspired by the infamous photograph of Princess Diana outside the Taj Mahal, he thought she looked so lonely and sad that she should have shoes which had a message on them to gaze upon.

He is mates with David Lynch

Christian has enjoyed a long working relationship with David Lynch, from a collection of Fetish inspired designs to a recent design inspired by Lynch’s iconic Twin Peaks, the Shoe Peaks bag (picture above).

He could join the circus (kind of)

Christian is an able trapeze artist, having taken lessons for many years. A trapeze rope hangs in the high ceilinged photography studio at the CL office in Paris. He also loves dance and once performed in a tap dancing video.

He's a film star

Christian once appeared in a Chinese language film called My Best Friend’s Wedding.