You're listening to the Economist asks, I'm Anne McElvoy. Only a few artists and designers

in history have created an immediate association with one particular colour. There's Eve

Klein-Blue, Sunflower Yellow for Van Gogh, and in the world of fashion orange for her mares,

and I should be presenting this in Coco Chanel's little black dress. But that list is incomplete

without Pantone 181663TP. Lackered onto the soul of a towering stiletto, this vivid red

is an unmistakable calling card of my guest today, Christian Lubatone. Over the last 40

years, his shoes have become icons of both high fashion and pop culture. They've clad

the feet of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City and been name checked by musicians from

J.Lo to Cardi B. Eretha Franklin, the queen of soul herself, was even buried in a fire-red

pair. But in an age when what it means to be feminine, sexy and fashionable is being redefined,

where does the stiletto stand? I've come to Paris during fashion week for the presentation

of Christian Lubatone's new collection and for the opening of the exhibitionist, the biggest

ever retrospective of his work at the Palais de la Porteurée.

Christian Lubatone, welcome to the Economist's asks. Thank you. When I first entered your exhibition,

I noticed a big sign and it says the opposite of anything you might expect from you and your

work, it says no high heels. What's the story behind that? Well, it's actually a sign that

I was seeing when I was going to that museum as a kid. One that was like 9, 10, 11, etc. I

could understand that it was a sign showing the silhouette of a shoe, but it was in 1950 shoes

and we are now in the 70s. So I look at this drawing as a kid and I'm thinking what the hell is

that drawing? So I started to actually reproduce that silhouette of a 1950s shoe without knowing that

it actually was a real shoe possible. This drawing made me understand that you could actually draw

things which are not existing and then maybe it exists after. So I own a lot to that drawing in a way.

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