Fourteen years ago, fresh in the UAE and still finding my footing, I walked into my first big interview – with Christian Louboutin. I was nervous, probably too serious, and absolutely starstruck. Fast forward to 2025, and I’m sitting across from the legendary designer again in Abu Dhabi. 

He has just landed from Bhutan, still jet-lagged but sharp, witty, and endlessly curious, exactly as I remembered him. This time, Louboutin is in town to mark the reopening of his Abu Dhabi boutique at The Galleria Al Maryah Island, now reimagined with a design concept. 

His visit coincided with Abu Dhabi Art 2025, and the city also played host to the worldwide pre-launch of Louboutin’s Hollywood Capsule Collection, ahead of its global release.

“I hadn’t really explored Abu Dhabi until now,” he tells me. “I’d been to the Louvre, the mosque, but never really stayed. So this time, I have a chance to feel the rhythm of the city.”

At the art fair, Louboutin says, his mind lit up not only from the works themselves but from the geography of it all. “You really feel the UAE is a crossroads,” he says. “Galleries from London, artists from Pakistan, India… It’s a true cultural intersection. In Europe, the map centres around Europe. Here, the centre shifts.”

This sense of shifting perspective is something he values and lives, for it’s true that his life and work bleed into each other. And the Middle East has long been a personal reference – from Egypt to Syria, Lebanon to the Gulf, Louboutin draws inspiration less from a fixed ‘concept’ and more from experience.

When asked if art directly inspires his designs, he’s clear. “Not exactly. Art clears my head, removes the fog, but it’s not a direct translation into shoes,” he says, noting that he gravitates towards sculpture over painting, appreciating the physicality of objects. “I’ve always liked three-dimensional work. A table, a sculpture – to me, there’s no big gap between function and art.”

His most recent acquisition? A fully immersive room painted by an Italian artist near Venice, now installed in his Paris apartment. “It surrounds you. It’s not just something you look at,” he explains.

We discussed his recent show for Spring–Summer 2026, a celebration that felt more like a community gathering than a traditional fashion moment. “Fashion started as a celebration of fun and freedom,” Louboutin recounts. “Somewhere along the way, with business and scale, that joy can get lost. I wanted to bring it back.”

He credits photographer David LaChapelle, who directed the show, for helping make that vision a reality. “You barely saw the shoes,” he laughs. “But the energy was there.”

Louboutin is also looking forward and thinking generationally. His collaboration with Jaden Smith, who is now the creative director for the men’s collection, was born from genuine creative chemistry. “We’d bounce ideas off each other, even before Covid,” he says. “Eventually I thought, why not make it official?”

And despite the rise of social media, AI, and shifting luxury markets, Louboutin remains grounded. “People move less now, they shop online,” he says. “So, if they’re stepping into a store, it should feel worth it. It should feel like something. A bit of play, a bit of soul.”

He’s currently deep-diving into Islamic art and museums in the region, and also has plans to explore more of the cultural DNA of the Middle East. “There’s so much richness here,” shares Louboutin. “And the way museums are telling those stories, it’s changing. It’s exciting.”

After all these years, he’s still asking questions. Still curious. Still creating from a place of joy. And in a world that often forgets the beauty of fun, Louboutin makes sure we remember.