Jaden Smith’s Vision for Christian Louboutin Touches Down in Paris

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A lot has been said about the appointment of Jaden Smith — son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, brother of Willow Smith — to the post of men’s creative director of Chrisitan Louboutin — a job that did not exist until it was created especially for him just last year. And, sufficed to say, that talk has been largely… pessimistic.

How could it not be? The closest thing Smith has to any formal design training would appear to be sitting front row at Louis Vuitton and many have argued that if not for his famous family, his partnership with Louboutin would never have happened.

Christian Louboutin is, after all, one of the most successful and recognizable names in designer shoes and accessories, worth billions of dollars. Why would they even consider Smith, if not for his notable family?

And yet, one does not necessarily need formal training to do good creative work. And if all Louboutin wanted in a creative director was a name and a good sense of style, one imagines they could have easily found someone more famous than Smith — though, admittedly, the man can dress.

That’s the thing: he has a certain taste. A certain eye. Whatever one might think of his particular bona fides (or lack there of) you have to give him that.

Jaden Smith

Of course, whether his ability to construct an image for himself will translate into a collection others would want to actually buy, only time will tell. What moves the people who write about fashion is often very different from what actually compels consumers to part with their money. And who knows? With expectations so low, he could just end up surprising everyone.

And so, for the last few months, we have all waited with our collective breath held, in anticipation of whatever it is exactly that the Jaden Smith era of Christian Louboutin has to offer.

And just in time for Paris men’s fashion week, here it is, in all its red-soled glory:

Now, personally, I’m not really feeling the Swiss cheese loafers and I’ve never been an advocate for the men’s slingback, but like it or not, you can’t say there isn’t a customer out there for at least most of this. Take the paramilitary-inspired black leather cargo vest, for example: in the age of hyper-masculine performance, there are probably lots of guys who would love to own that particular piece, even if (or perhaps because) the closest they will ever actually get to military service is playing Call of Duty.

So far, discourse around the collection has been… passionate, to say the least. But if you subscribe to the old adage that all press is good press, then the fact that so many people are talking about it — whatever they may be saying — is an unequivocal triumph. After all, when was the last time a Louboutin collection — let alone a men’s Louboutin collection — got this much attention?