Christian Louboutin Exhibition at London’s Design Museum: 'Kate Middleton is a Style Icon'

Shoes, glorious shoes. My goodness, we were in absolute heaven last night when we tottered down to the launch of the Christian Louboutin exhibition at London’s Design Museum. The man himself was there in the most amazing silver-toed brogues and a very snazzy pair of red trousers. And despite suffering from Bronchitus, Mr Louboutin was very much in the party mood. He told Grazia Daily: ‘It’s taken a year of hard work to get this exhibition together, but it was so worth it. I’m so pleased.’

And there were literally hundreds and hundreds of different shoes of all shapes and sizes to look at spanning the 20 years since he opened his first store in Paris. Displayed on funfair carousels, hanging from hoola hoops attached to the ceiling and inside a mini theatre, it really was a feast for the eyes. Best bit? A '20s style black and white film of Christian dancing on a theatre stage. The only colour in the film was the soles of his shoes – red of course.

However, Christian admitted that he couldn’t single out a favourite shoe. ‘That’s very hard, every different shoe has a different story behind it. I like high shoes though, the higher the better,’ he told us. Although he was happy to gush about Kate Middleton - yep, the Duchess of Cambridge. ‘I think she’s a style icon. She’s doing so well.’

There by his side was one of his dearest friends, Dita Von Teese, dressed in a floor length black Jean Paul Gaultier gown and who Christian described as his ‘lovebird.’ Although she has so many pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes that she couldn’t pin point exactly how many. ‘I think counting shoes is audacious. I’ve never counted,’ she said. ‘My favourite pair is a simple heeled black pump.’

After a sneak peak at the exhibition over Champagne and a few polenta chips, we headed to the after party at The Ivy Club where we were joined by Theo Hutchcraft, Sophie Dahl, and Daphne Guinness for Belvedere cocktails. Lovely jubbly.