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Kate Moss
Moss in 2005
Born	(1974-01-16) 16 January 1974 (age 38) Addiscombe, Croydon, London, England
Occupation	Model
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[1]
Hair colour	Brown[2]
Eye colour	Hazel
Dress size	UK 6 – US 2 – EU 34[2]
Manager	Storm Model Management D'management Group Marilyn Model Agency IMG Models
Spouse	Jamie Hince (m. 2011) «start: (2011-07)»"Marriage: Jamie Hince to Kate Moss" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kate_Moss)
Children	1

Kate Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model who is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on eating disorders, and her role in size zero fashion. In 2007, she came 2nd on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $9 million in one year.^[3]

Early life[link]

Moss was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, London to Linda Rosina (Shepherd), a barmaid, and Peter Edward Moss, a travel agent.^[4] Kate has a younger brother named Nick and a half-sister named Lottie (Charlotte) and half-brother.^[5][6][7] Moss' parents divorced when she was 13. She attended Ridgeway Primary School and Riddlesdown Collegiate, but most commonly known as Riddlesdown High School, in Purley. She was not noted for her academic success but she did excel at sport.

Career[link]

Moss was discovered in 1988 at the age of 14 by Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm Model Management, at JFK Airport in New York City,^[8] after a holiday in the Bahamas. Moss's career began when Corinne Day shot black-and-white photographs of her, styled by Melanie Ward, for British magazine The Face when she was 16, in a photo shoot titled "The 3rd Summer of Love". Day discovered Kate Moss when she was a young and unknown model and described the pictures that she took of Moss as ‘dirty realism’ or ‘grunge’.^[9]Moss then went on to become the "anti-supermodel" of the 1990s^{[citation needed]} in contrast to the "supermodels" of the moment^{[citation needed]}, such as Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell, who were known^{[citation needed]} for their curvaceous and tall figures.

Moss was voted 9th in Maxim's "50 Sexiest Women of 1999" and 22nd in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women of 1995". Men's magazine Arena named her as their Sexiest Woman in their 150th issue. She was presented on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses".^[10] In March 2007, Moss won the Sexiest Woman NME Award.^[11] She made her first appearance in the British women's Sunday Times Rich List in 2007, where she was estimated to be worth £45 million. She ranked as the 99th richest woman in Britain.^[12] In the 2009 Rich List, she was ranked as the 1,348th richest person in the UK, with a net worth of £40 million.^[13]

In July 2007, when she had earned an estimated total of $9 million in the preceding 12 months, Forbes magazine named her second on the list of the World's 15 top-earning models list.^[3]

Style[link]

Moss ushered in the heroin chic look in 1993^{[citation needed]} (which prompted much speculation over her weight) with a highly publicised campaign for Calvin Klein. Her depiction in photographs also drew criticism from then-President of the United States Bill Clinton, who spoke out against the growing heroin chic trend.^[14] When questioned about her weight, Moss commented, "It was just the time. It was a swing from more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford and people were shocked to see what they called a 'waif'. What can you say? How many times can you say 'I'm not anorexic'?"^[15]

In addition to being known for her modelling work, Kate Moss is also an international fashion icon.^[16] She has garnered many awards for her style, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America's fashion influence award and a place on the Vanity Fair international best-dressed list.^[17][18] In the early part of the 21st century, she was, together with actress Sienna Miller, one of the main proponents of boho-chic.^{[citation needed]} She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's September 2006 style issue. In recent years, she has popularised denim cutoff shorts,^[19] Ugg boots, ballet flats, Vivienne Westwood Pirate Boots, skinny jeans, waistcoat, Alexander McQueen's skull scarf, Louis Vuitton's Sprouse Leopard Cashmere Scarf, and the Balenciaga handbag.^[20]

In 2008, Moss was added to PETA's 'Worst-Dressed' Celebrities of 2008'^[21] because of her frequent use of fur.

Campaigns[link]

Moss has had campaigns with major Italian, French, American, and British designers including Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Rimmel,^[22] and Bulgari. She has been featured in fashion spreads in most major fashion magazines including UK, US, and French Vogue magazines (as well as other international versions of Vogue), Another Man, Vanity Fair, the Face, and W. Moss has appeared on the cover of British Vogue 30 times,^[23] in addition to dozens of other international Vogue covers, and has been featured on the cover of 17 issues of W, including one issue with nine different covers that featured the model. W even names Moss its muse (September 2003 issue). She has worked with the most well-known photographers in the fashion industry, such as Mario Testino, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Klein, Juergen Teller, and Peter Lindbergh, and won the prestigious Vogue/CFDA award from the Fashion Designers of America in July 2005 as Fashion Inspiration.^{[citation needed]}

April 2005 saw the launch of the Rimmel London mascara TV ad featuring a leather-clad Kate Moss riding a motorbike through London to the sound of the rock song "Another Cold Beer" by Steven Crayn, an advertising campaign that is still running.^{[citation needed]}

Twelve months after her cocaine scandal, Moss made a comeback by bagging 18 top modelling contracts for the Autumn/Winter 2006 season including Rimmel, Agent Provocateur, Virgin Mobile, Calvin Klein Jeans and Burberry.^{[citation needed]} Moss designed a collection, in collaboration with Katy England, for Topshop.^[24] Moss launched a fragrance and body lotion range bearing her name in association with Coty in 2007.^[25]

According to Forbes, Moss has earned more money since her cocaine scandal than ever before: her 2004–2005 earnings were $5 million^[26] and her 2005–2006 earnings were $8 million.^[27] In 2007, with estimated earnings of $9 million, she was the second highest paid model in the world, behind Gisele Bündchen.^[3]

In November 2006, Moss won the Model of the Year prize at the British Fashion Awards, the top accolade in British fashion, but the award divided opinion and stirred fresh controversy.^[28]

On 27 September 2007, The Sun published a story entitled, "Kate Moss dumped by seven brands", describing her "cocaine honeymoon" as fading away. The story continues by stating that in autumn 2006 she had eighteen contracts in comparison to 2007's eleven, and that in 2006 fashion bible Vogue had six campaigns using Moss including Dior, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, but November 2007's issue has none. The story concludes by saying that an industry source has said "She is still very big but the honeymoon period has ended."^[29]

In 2012 Moss appeared as a Model for the Spring/Summer Collection for Supreme

Fashion designer[link]

On 1 May 2007, a collection of clothes designed by Moss exclusively for the Topshop chain were launched across the UK in the chain's 225 stores. A Kate Moss "countdown to launch" board filled a window of the company's flagship Oxford Street store and on 30 April, Moss launched the clothing line at Topshop in Oxford Street, where she briefly appeared in the shop window modelling a red dress from the clothing collection just before the shop was opened, causing a media frenzy.^[30] Topshop reportedly paid Moss £3 million for her work.^[30] The collection of fifty designs included clothes, bags, shoes and belts, where prices range from £12 for a vest top to £150 for a cropped leather jacket. Clothes in the collection included skinny jeans, one-shoulder minidresses and T-shirts with the letter K woven into the design.^[31] The Topshop range was later released in the United States at the New York chain store Barneys.^[32]

In a collaboration with Coty, Moss has released four fragrances.^{[citation needed]} In early 2010, it was revealed that she had designed a range of handbags for luxury goods house Longchamp.^[33]

Alan McGee, Kate Moss, and BP Fallon DJing at Death Disco NY in 2004

Other endeavours[link]

Moss appeared on Oasis singles "Don't Go Away" (1998) and "Fade Away" (1994), and on the Be Here Now album (1997), playing tambourine, Johnny Depp playing a guitar.

She has appeared in music videos such as "Kowalski" by Primal Scream, "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" by the White Stripes, "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John, "Sex with Strangers" by Marianne Faithfull, "Love Don't Bother Me" by Stage Dolls, and "Delia's Gone" and "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash.

She has also provided vocals for songs by Primal Scream (the 2003 version of "Some Velvet Morning"), Babyshambles ("La Belle et la Bête") and The Lemonheads ("You're a Dirty Robot"). Prior to breaking up with Pete Doherty, Moss co-wrote four songs on Babyshambles' second album Shotter's Nation—"You Talk", "French Dog Blues", "Baddie's Boogie", and "Deft Left Hand".

In 1999, Moss played a non-musical role in the British screen comedy Blackadder: Back & Forth, appearing both as Maid Marian and as a fictional Queen of England "who looks good naked".^[34] Director and writer Richard Curtis said in the making of video, that they wanted "the best looking woman in England" to play the role.^[35]

Moss has also been the subject of portraits by contemporary artists such as Lucian Freud and Chuck Close. In 2005, a painting of Moss by Freud sold for £3.93 million at a Christie's auction.^[36] Close has taken a series of daguerreotypes of Moss, which he has also translated into Jacquard tapestry.^[37]

In October 2010, she appeared on the cover of Bryan Ferry's album Olympia.

In January 2012, having seen a performance by Dutch illusionist Hans Klok on the BBC's The One Show, Moss called fashion designer Stella McCartney and recommended that she book him as one of the attractions at her London Fashion Week show the following month.^[38][39] It was originally planned that Moss, a self-confessed magic fan, would act as Klok's assistant, and she spent several days working with him to rehearse three illusions, a levitation, a sawing in half and a guillotine illusion. However, she was forced to drop out of the show after suffering temporary paralysis of her right arm due to a trapped nerve, and her place was taken by TV presenter and model Alexa Chung.^[39][40]

Charity work[link]

Moss has been a supporter of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity, and in the 1990s featured in one of their target T-shirt campaigns.^{[citation needed]} She also supported War Child.^{[citation needed]} Moss also designed a charm in a necklace for Wallis in 2007 in aid of Cancer Research UK and said "I am happy to give my support to help fund crucial research, as so many lives are affected by this terrible disease".^[41]

She has also helped to launch the SamandRuby charity in March 2006. The charity was started to provide funding for the education and shelter of Thai children. The SamandRuby organisation is named after a friend of Moss's, Samantha Archer Fayet, and her 6-month-old daughter Ruby Rose who were killed by the Tsunami while visiting Thailand.^{[citation needed]} Moss also supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Hoping Foundation, the Lucie Blackman Trust, Make Poverty History, Comic Relief and Homes of Hope.^[42]

On 22 November 2006, Moss recorded an appearance in a Little Britain sketch for Comic Relief at the Hammersmith Apollo as a character called Katie Pollard, sister of Vicky Pollard played by Matt Lucas.^[43]

Moss made a short film with Misery Bear for the March 2011 Comic Relief event entitled "Misery Bear's Comic Relief Starring Kate Moss".^[44]

Personal life[link]

Kate Moss has a daughter, Lila Grace Moss Hack,^[45] born on 29 September 2002, with Dazed & Confused editor Jefferson Hack.

Moss had a relationship with former Libertines member Pete Doherty, first meeting him at her 31st birthday party in January 2005.^[46] On 11 April 2007, Doherty announced Moss as his fiancée during one of his concerts in London, at which Moss also performed.^[47][48] In July 2007, Moss and Doherty split.^{[citation needed]} She was due to model on the catwalk for John Galliano, but was too distraught with her break-up to participate.^[49]

Moss began dating Jamie Hince, guitarist for The Kills in late 2007 with The Sun reporting on 26 March 2008, that they had became engaged during a trip to Amsterdam,^[50] Hince proposing to Moss in bed with a vintage 1920s ring worth more than £10,000.^[51] Moss married Hince on 1 July 2011 at St Peter's Church, Southrop in Gloucestershire; she wore a dress by John Galliano.^[52]

Cocaine scandal[link]

On 15 September 2005, the Daily Mirror ran front page and inside photos that seemed to show Moss snorting several lines of a white powder that was presumed to be cocaine at a Babyshambles recording session. It was also reported that Moss snorted five lines in 40 minutes.^[53] It has been alleged by Babyshambles' singer Pete Doherty that James Mullord, his former manager, sold the photos to the newspaper for more than £150,000 and spent the money on heroin.^[54]

On 20 September 2005, the Swedish fashion retailer H&M, which had intended to feature her in a campaign of their autumn clothes range designed by Stella McCartney, announced it was dropping Moss after the drug allegations.^[55] The contract was reportedly worth £4 million a year.^[56] A day later, Chanel announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Moss, which was set to expire that October, although the company said that its decision had nothing to do with the drug scandal. Burberry also decided to drop Moss's campaign with them.^[57] Moss quickly issued an apology, though she stopped short of admitting drug use.^[58]

Moss continued to appear in major ad campaigns during this period for Dior.^{[citation needed]} She was on the cover of the November 2005 W and also appeared inside in a multi-page fashion shoot. She was also defended by designer Alexander McQueen, who, during his walk-out after a fashion show, wore a t-shirt saying "We love you Kate".^[59] Artist Stella Vine also publicly supported Moss, and paintings by Vine of the model, painted during the scandal, were exhibited and reproduced in the press.^[60]

In November 2005, Moss ended her relationship with Doherty soon after he checked himself out of Meadows Clinic in Arizona, failing to complete a programme for drug rehabilitation.^{[citation needed]} Moss herself underwent successful treatment there in October and had urged Doherty to seek the same treatment himself. Doherty claims that their separation involved other issues, telling The Sun that Moss left him because, "I can’t buy her diamonds."^[61] On 5 January 2006, the Metropolitan Police asked Moss to return from the US to Britain to answer questions about the September 2005 cocaine scandal.^[62] The following day, the Daily Mirror reported that Moss would return to Britain and face arrest for allegations of cocaine usage. She was interviewed by police in London on 31 January 2006, with her solicitor present, but reportedly made no admissions, and she was not arrested (photographs of alleged drug-taking are not admissible evidence in English courts). On 16 June 2006, British police finally dropped the charges for lack of evidence.^[63] Ultimately, Moss was cleared of all charges and resumed her modelling career.^{[citation needed]} Criticism of Moss has continued, and her career revival has been viewed as a sign of moral and cultural decline by critics such as Peter Hitchens.^[64]

Gold statue[link]

A £1.5m ($2.8m) 100% gold statue was made of Moss in 2008 as part of a British Museum exhibition. Entitled Siren, the 50 kg (110 lb) hollow statue was made by Marc Quinn, who described Moss as "the ideal beauty of the moment". The statue is said to be the largest gold statue to be created since the era of Ancient Egypt.^[65]

Quinn had previously unveiled a painted-bronze, life-size sculpture of Moss in a contorted yoga pose, titled Sphinx.^[66]

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Buttolph, Angela. Kate Moss: Style. London: Century, 2008. ISBN 1-84605-429-X.
• Collins, Laura. Kate Moss: The Complete Picture. London: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, 2008. ISBN 0-283-07063-3.
• Kendall, Katherine. Kate Moss: Model of Imperfection. New York: Penguin Group, 2005. ISBN 1-59609-033-2.
• Moss, Kate. Kate: The Kate Moss Book. New York: Universe, 1997. ISBN 0-7893-0101-6.
• Vermorel, Fred. Addicted To Love: Kate Moss London: Omnibus Press, 2006. ISBN 1-84609-158-6, second (updated) edition, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84609-755-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kate Moss

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kate Moss

• Kate Moss at the Internet Movie Database
• Kate Moss at the Fashion Model Directory
• Kate Moss at People.com
• Full Vogue 8 Aug Article
• Extract from Kate Moss: The Complete Picture by Laura Collins

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since December 2011. It may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Tagged since December 2011.

Bobbi Brown
Bobbi Brown backstage at The Heart Truth fashion show in 2009
Born	(1957-04-14) April 14, 1957 (age 55) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Occupation	Make-up artist, CEO

Bobbi Brown (born April 14, 1957) is the founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

Biography[link]

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Brown graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a degree in theatrical makeup. Afterwards, she moved to New York City to work as a professional makeup artist. In 1991, she and a chemist released a line of new lipsticks under the brand Bobbi Brown Essentials, which debuted at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. Today, the line is available at few fine retailers such as Lord & Taylor. The success of that makeup line led Estee Lauder to buy the company in 1995.^[1][2]

In addition to creating cover looks for magazines and make-up for fashion shows, Brown is the exclusive beauty editor of The Today Show and a frequent guest on the E! and Style channels. She is the author of Bobbi Brown Beauty, Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual, Bobbi Brown Teenage Beauty, Beauty Rules and Bobbi Brown Beauty Evolution. On 2006-10-24, Brown joined the Emerson College Board of Trustees.^[3]

Brown is partners with a charity called Dress for Success where she gives underprivileged women attractive clothes to wear to job interviews. Also, the women receive the basic makeup by Bobbi Brown Essentials. When they receive the makeup, they get their makeup done by volunteer Bobbi Brown makeup artists.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Brown lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband Steven Plofker and three sons.^[5]

Books[link]

• Bobbi Brown Beauty: The Ultimate Beauty Resource (1997) ISBN 0-06-270167-3
• Bobbi Brown Teenage Beauty: Everything You Need to Look Pretty, Natural, Sexy & Awesome (2001) ISBN 0-06-095724-7
• Bobbi Brown Beauty Evolution : A Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty (2002) ISBN 0-06-008881-8
• Bobbi Brown Living Beauty (2007) ISBN 0-8212-5834-6
• Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro (2008) ISBN 0-446-58134-8
• Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bobbi Brown

• Official website
• Brown's blog
• Profile at IMDb
• Bobbi Brown, Top 7 Make-up artist on iFashion Network

Amrita Singh (born February 9, 1958)^[1] is an Indian film and television actress.^[2]

Early life[link]

Amrita was born to a Sikh-Muslim family. She is the daughter Rukhsana Sultana, who was a political activist and Shavinder Singh, who was an army officer.

Through her mother, she is a relative of actors Begum Para and Ayub Khan, as well as Mian Ehsan Ul Haque, who came from a landowning family. He was a judge and the Chief Justice of the highest court in the princely state of Bikaner, northern Rajasthan. Through her father, she is a relative of novelist Khushwant Singh and businessman Sir Sobha Singh of Lahore.

She attended Modern School in New Delhi and is fluent in the English, Punjabi and Hindi languages.

Career[link]

Amrita made her Bollywood debut in 1983 with Betaab, a vastly successful film in which she was paired with Sunny Deol. This was quickly followed by a succession of hits, such as: Sunny in 1984, Mard (which was the biggest hit of that year) and Saaheb in 1985, Chameli Ki Shaadi and Naam in 1986, Khudgarz in 1987, etc. Amrita made a successful pair in several films not only with Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt, but also with Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, two leading actors of the 1980s.

As well as playing leading roles, she also played supporting negative roles in films such as Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and Aaina (1993). She also won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for the latter. These successes did not dissuade her from her resolve to retire into family life and Amrita quit acting after 1993. She returned to acting in 2002 with the film 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, in which she played the mother of Bhagat Singh (played by Bobby Deol). She then appeared on the STAR Plus television serial, Kavyanjali, in 2005. Later that year, she won acclaim for her performance in yet another negative role for the film Kalyug.

In 2007, Amrita played the role of the gangster Maya Dolas' mother, Ratnaprabha Dolas, in the Sanjay Gupta film Shootout at Lokhandwala, directed by Apoorva Lakhia. Vivek Oberoi played the role of Maya. Her last release was the anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan, where she appeared in the short story Poornmasi.

Personal life[link]

In 1991, Amrita married Saif Ali Khan, twelve years her junior. He is the son of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the ninth Nawab of Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore. In 1993, she gave up acting for a family life with her then husband. Together they have two children, a daughter named Sara Ali Khan (born September 1994) and a son named Ibrahim Ali Khan (born October 2001).

Although Sara's Bollywood entry is not finalized yet, she was seen as part of a Marathi Nrutya-Naatika (Dance-Play). Saif attended the show to see his daughter's dance performance.^[3]

After thirteen years of marriage, they divorced in 2004 and Amrita now lives with their two children.

Filmography[link]

• Kajraare (2010)
• Dus Kahaniyaan (2007)
• Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007)
• Kalyug (2005)
• 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002)
• Rang (1993)
• Aaina (1993)
• Dil Aashna Hai (1992)
• Kal Ki Awaz (1992)
• Suryavanshi (1992)
• Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992)
• Pyaar Ka Saaya (1991)
• Rupaye Dus Karod (1991)
• Akayla (1991)
• Dharam Sankat (1991)
• Paap Ki Aandhi (1991)
• Sadhu Sant (1991)
• C.I.D. (1990)
• Krodh (1990)
• Aag Ka Dariya (1990)
• Maut Ke Farishtey (1990)
• Veeru Dada (1990)
• Jaadugar (1989)
• Toofan (1989)
• Batwara (1989)
• Ilaaka (1989)
• Galiyon Ka Badshah (1989)
• Hathyar (1989)
• Sachai Ki Taqat (1989)
• Agnee (1988)
• Charanon Ki Saugandh (1988)
• Waris (1988)
• Shukriyaa (1988)
• Tamacha (1988)
• Kabzaa (1988)
• Thikana (1987)
• Khudgarz (1987)
• Naam O Nishan (1987)
• Naam (1986)
• Karamdaata (1986)
• Kala Dhanda Goray Log (1986)
• Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986)
• Mera Dharam (1986)
• Mard (1985)
• Saaheb (1985)
• Duniya (1984)
• Sunny (1984)
• Betaab (1983)

Television[link]

• Kavyanjali as Nitya Nanda

Awards and nominations[link]

• 1994: Won: Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Aaina
• 2007: Nominated: Filmfare Best Villain Award for Kalyug

References[link]

External links[link]

• Amrita Singh at the Internet Movie Database
• Bhopal: The Mirazi Khel Dynasty - Genealogy
• Hindilyrics.net: Profiles - Amrita Singh
• Khalid Hasan Online: Begum Para: The Last Glamour Girl - Khalid Hasan
• Modern School: Barakhamba Road, New Delhi - Famous Alumni
• Thedu.in: Biography - Begum Para

Christian Louboutin (pronounced [kʁis.tjɑ̃ lu.bu.tɛ̃]; b. 7 January 1963) is a French footwear designer whose footwear has incorporated shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Louboutin was born in Paris and grew up in Paris's 12th arrondissement. He was the only son of Roger, an ébéniste,^[2] and Irene, a homemaker, and he has three sisters. He was expelled from school three times and ran away from home at the age of 12,^[3] at which point his indulgent mother allowed him to move out to live at a friend's house.^[4] Although Louboutin faced much opposition following his decision to leave school early, he claims that his resolve was strengthened after watching an interview on TV with Sophia Loren in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12, but, when she turned 50, she got her degree. He later remarked, "Everybody applauded! And I thought, 'Well, at least if I regret it I'm going to be like the sister of Sophia Loren!'"

Landscape architect Louis Benech has been his partner since 1997. Louboutin and his partner spend time between their homes in Paris’s 1st arrondissement,^[5] a fisherman's cottage in Lisbon,^[6] a palace in Aleppo,^[7] a houseboat on the Nile christened Dahabibi-my love boat, and a house in Luxor. The Luxor domicile is a former craftsman’s workshop, made of earthen bricks, to which he has added an additional floor and a rooftop belvedere.^[8] Additionally, he also shares a 13th-century castle in the Vendée with his business partner Bruno Chamberlain.^[4]

Louboutin claims that his unusual pastimes include trapeze flying, inspired by the film Wings of Desire, and that inspirations come from showgirls and music halls — not fashion (or la mode), which he asserts becomes quickly dated.

Career[link]

Christian Louboutin Ltd.

Type	Private,S.A
Industry	Consumer goods
Founded	1991
Headquarters	Paris, France
Key people	Christian Louboutin, Founder Bruno Chamberland, CEO[9] Alexis Mourot, COO & GM[9] Priya Mohindra,U.S Communications Director[10]
Products	Shoes,Purses,Wallets
Revenue	$250 million (31 December 2010) on 600,000 pairs of shoes a year[11]
Employees	420 (2011) [4]
Website	christianlouboutin.com

He began sketching shoes in his early teens, ignoring his academic studies. Going through a punk phase, he was in a few films, including 1979 cult classic Race d'ep. Under the title The Homosexual Century, a film which attracted an English-language audience. His first job was at the Folies Bergères, the caberet where he assisted the entertainers backstage. He was also a fixture on the city's party scene, clubbing his nights away alongside Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol.^[4]

His little formal training included drawing and the decorative arts at the Académie d'Art Roederer. Louboutin claims his fascination with shoes began in 1976 when he visited the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie on the avenue Daumesnil. It was there that he saw a sign from Africa forbidding women wearing sharp stilettos from entering a building for fear of damage to the extensive wood flooring. This image stayed in his mind, and he later used this idea in his designs. "I wanted to defy that," Louboutin said. "I wanted to create something that broke rules and made women feel confident and empowered."^[12]

Fascinated by world cultures, he ran away in his teens to Egypt and spent a year in India. Louboutin returned to Paris in 1981, where he assembled a portfolio of drawings of elaborate high heels. He brought it to the top couture houses. The effort resulted in employment with Charles Jourdan. Subsequently, Louboutin met Roger Vivier, who claims to have invented the stiletto, or spiked-heel shoe. Louboutin became an apprentice in Vivier's atelier.

Going on to serve as a freelance designer, Louboutin designed women's shoes for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Maud Frizon. In the late 1980s, he gave turned away from fashion to become a landscape gardener and to contribute to Vogue but missed working with shoes and set up his company in 1991.

With funds from two backers, he opened a Paris shoe salon in 1991 with Princess Caroline of Monaco as his first customer. She complimented the store one day when a fashion journalist was present, and the journalist's subsequent publication of Princess's comments helped greatly to increase Louboutin's renown. Clients such as Diane von Fürstenberg and Catherine Deneuve followed. Later, those interested in his stiletto heels have included Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian. Sarah Jessica Parker wore a pair of shoes by Louboutin for her wedding.

Louboutin has topped the Luxury Institute's annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for three years; the brand's offerings were declared the Most Prestigious Women's Shoes in 2007, 2008, and 2009.^[13][14][15]

Shoes[link]

Louboutin helped bring stilettos back into fashion in the 1990s and 2000s, designing dozens of styles with heel heights of 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher. The designer's professed goal has been to "make a woman look sexy, beautiful, to make her legs look as long as [he] can." While he does offer some lower-heeled styles, Louboutin is generally associated with his dressier evening-wear designs incorporating jeweled straps, bows, feathers, patent leather, and other similar decorative touches.^[16] Despite being known for his celebrity clients, he rarely gives shoes away – offering discounts instead to his high-profile fans. This policy also extends to his personal family, because he feels that giving shoes away as gifts is unimaginative.^[17]

His single biggest client is Danielle Steel, who is reputed to own over 6,000 pairs and is known to have purchased up 80 pairs at a time when shopping at his stores.^[18]

Christian Louboutin vs. Yves Saint Laurent[link]

In 2011, Christian Louboutin company filed a trademark infringement of its red-soled shoes against designer Yves Saint Laurent.^[19] The firm is expecting that the YSL shoe design will be revoked and is seeking US $1 million in damages.^[20] However, in August 2011, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero denied the firm's request to stop the sale of women's shoes with red soles by Yves Saint Laurent. The judge questioned the validity of the trademark, writing, "Louboutin's claim would cast a red cloud over the whole industry, cramping what other designers do, while allowing Louboutin to paint with a full palette."^[21] Judge Marrero also wrote, "Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection, even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning."^[22] Jewelry company Tiffany & Co., which has its blue box trademarked, filed a amicus curiae brief focusing on trademarking a color. Fashion periodical WWD reported that Tiffany's brief supports Louboutin's appeal to reverse the decision made by Judge Marrero.^[23]

Boutiques[link]

The list of distributors and location of the stores can be found on the Christian Louboutin Web site. A new ladies boutique has been scheduled to open in Turkey in 2012.^[24]

In the spring of 2012,the company also plans to open its first men's store in New York City, boasting over 1,000 square feet of space and conveniently located next to its existing Horatio Street store.^[25] From previous experience in his Paris Store, Louboutin claimed that women feel uncomfortable when men stare at them while they try on shoes, hence a separate stores.^[26]

The first Louboutin Men's Boutique, Christian Louboutin Boutique Homme on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris, opened in the summer of 2012.

Christian Louboutin Miami is located on 40th Street in the Design District of Miami, Florida.^[27] Louboutin chose to open a store in Miami because of the mix of businesses and the small urban scale, and because of his obvious following there. During Miami Basel art fair when the store opened in 2009, he said, "You don't get this with Europeans—but Americans actually come into my office in Paris to meet me, and a lot of those people are from Miami." The boutique stocks Louboutin's most colorful, strappy, precarious styles, on account of the subtropical climate and the fact that, Louboutin says, "people barely walk in the street."^[28]

The 2,400-square-foot space was designed by Eric Clough and 212box.^[28] Above a steel awning shaped like a Louboutin shoe in profile, with a red underside to boot, pink orchids sprout from the coral-stone facade. Still more orchids project from a wall in the entry gallery. Pantyhose have been recycled by Dutch artist Madeleine Berkhemer into a multi-colored sculpture that stretches over the empty concrete floor with some of Louboutin’s signature shoes dangling in the overhead tangle of nylon "like insects trapped in a psychedelic spider’s web."^[27] This L-shape space wraps two sides of a rectangular volume clad almost entirely in one-way mirror: a box that contains the merchandise for sale while allowing people who've just come in the front door to "witness other people falling in love with the shoes," Clough says.^[28]

The inside areas in the store are defined by lush red carpeting. Blue, blown-glass chandeliers hang from the ceilings.^[27] Hieroglyphics, symbols and Braille are carved onto wooden Codebox Tiles that line some of the store's interior walls.^[29] hiding the words of a poem by contemporary American poet Lyn Hejinian in plain sight, in the etched wooden tiles lining the gallery wall behind the orchids. "This is the way I / Want to go in and / Out of heaven... / Windows full at 5pm / My skull a place / Except that I think of space as the more exciting," the lines read.^[28] These coded tiles appear in many Louboutin stores designed by Clough around the world, including São Paulo, Brazil.

Fighting Fraud Online[link]

Branded genuine Louboutin shoes are sold in-store and online through various luxury goods retailers such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Joseph, Browns, Matches, Cricket and Cruise and online through Net-A-Porter and The Outnet in the UK. Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Nordstrom sell genuine Louboutin in the US.

Online, the Louboutin brand is under constant attack from sellers of fakes and knock-offs. Louboutin's own website now sells some of their products online in the US^[30] but this is the only legitimate domain with the word Louboutin in it to do so. Louboutin's main website contains a prominent note stating that any other domain name containing the word "Louboutin" is very likely to be selling counterfeit goods.

In the last few years, the company has served hundreds of DMCA notices on Google to remove many sites selling fake goods from their search results.^[31] Even after this action, thousands of sites remain online.

The company has recently set up a separate website^[32] focused on protecting their brand, and detailing more than 3 000 websites that sell fake goods, many of which have been closed down. The site also contains summaries of legal actions taken, including raids on factories with photographs and videos of the mass destruction of counterfeit goods.

References[link]

Periodicals[link]

• Footwear News, 1 June 1992, p. S8; 9 December 2002, p. 50
• Harper's Bazaar, December 1999, p. 104; April 2001, p. 226
• Newsweek International, 24 February 2003, p. 48
• People, 10 February 2003, pp. 87–88
• Vogue, June 2004, p. 206

External links[link]

• Christian Louboutin Official Site (in English)
• Simpson, Aislinn (30 June 2008). "Christian Louboutin shoes top sexiness poll". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2221378/Christian-Louboutin-shoes-top-sexiness-poll.html. Retrieved 8 July 2008. 
• Armstrong, Lisa (5 July 2008). "How to get dressed: Christian Louboutin, the most wanted shoe brand". The Times (London). http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article4241482.ece. Retrieved 8 July 2008. 
• Christian Louboutin designer profile at Fashion Model Directory