Christian Louboutin

“What was called extreme 20 years ago definitely isn't extreme anymore. When I started, I remember people saying, 'Oh my God, I can't walk in that!' It was like, three inches - they look like...”

“I wanted to be a shoe designer, but I never thought it could be a profession. But what was the alternative? Doctor? Too dirty! Air-hostess? Maybe not! Then someone gave me a book on Roger Vi...”

“I really wish I had invented the flip-flop. I love flip-flops. It's the one style of shoe I would be so proud of inventing: the Havaiana.”

“I love flip-flops. It's the one style of shoe I would be so proud of inventing: the Havaiana.”

“Istanbul is inspiring because it has its own code of architecture, literature, poetry, music.”

“If I'm in Italy, I'm going to have a cappuccino and two small brioches and then a mix of orange and grapefruit. I don't drink tea in Italy.”

“I never had a plan. I have to say, I'm very shocked when people start a company and say, 'In five years I want to launch a perfume, or in 10 years I want to have this.' How can you know?”

“My relationship with shoes has always been linked to shoes, women, women in their shoes and performance.”

“I'll do shoes for the lady who lunches, but it would be, like, a really nasty lunch, talking about men. But where I draw the line, what I absolutely won't do, is the lady who plays bridge in...”

“I have always loved tartans - such an ornamented type of weaving, so vivid in colour, and such a masculine aspect. But actually, I think tartans can be feminine or masculine.”

“I'll do shoes for the lady who lunches, but it would be, like, a really nasty lunch, talking about men.”

“I like to undress women - not to dress them. You know, like Manet's 'Olympia' or Helmut Newton's photographs - naked women with shoes. This is what I am trying to do.”

“The most outrageous shoe that I had to do was a shoe where the person gave me stones - precious stones - and say that I could do anything with precious stones.”

“Passage Vero-Dodat - I started my company on this passage. It feels as much home as it can!”

“A good host is someone who really takes care of everyone, from the food to their daily programme. I can't.”

“Funnily enough, the most difficult style to do is the plain pump because it needs to look good on a variety of feet.”

“Women like my shoes because they look good on them, not because they look good on the rack.”

“Bhutan is a very serene country with an incredible history. It has an incredible group of great artisans.”

“A shoe has so much more to offer than just to walk.”

“Don't reject a shoe because you can't run in it. It's OK not to run.”