Christian Louboutin New York City Men's Boutique
The Christian Louboutin Men’s Boutique in New York City is a unique structure that encompasses an abandoned section of the West Village’s landmark Highline. Designed in rich, exotic tones and textures for “the traveling man who has everything,” the Men’s Boutique sports design details produced by artisans from around the world. These elements are combined to evoke a sensuous, masculine ambiance with the rustic, regal edge of New York’s West Village.
Housed in an industrial loft space with a towering ceiling, beams, lighting, electricity and water conduits have all been left exposed. Amidst these structural features, found objects are suspended to create sculptural planes, including skylights salvaged from the Park Armory New York and retrofitted with mirrors, and the ornate cap of an antique advertising column that once adorned the streets of Paris, reworked as a light fixture.
As seen in the Louboutin Boutique Homme Paris, the Washington Street store features a diamond-panel wall, it’s leather panels embellished with beadwork embroideries based on Christian's shoe designs. Principal designer Eric Clough explains, “We really try to use every leather process a shoe-maker, an architect, a designer would use—leather that’s embossed, embroidered, and cobbled, of all textures and colors from agneau peaux to raw hide. We loved collaborating with Paris’s premiere, couture pleater to create an origami leather wall.” The salmon-colored, pleated wallpaper is a centerpiece of the store’s back salon, stretching behind studded metal shoe displays. A stunning, geometric rawhide carpet border frames the signature Louboutin red carpet in the front retail area, while the rest of the space is floored with cobbled leather panels, created by an artisan in Mexico especially for the Louboutin Men’s boutiques. Millwork details in the store include antique, reclaimed pressed tin ceiling panels from New England, and intricate metal display screens masking the front windows. The back retail area of the store contains the “Tattoo Parlor,” lined in tiikeri with ornate neon signage and a custom banquet.
Other features include exposed storage, a custom rolling library ladder, a bar cashwrap, and a gyroscopic mannequin modeled after Christian’s friend Gareth Thomas.