There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In Her Shoe...

The wonder of Christian Louboutin's talent never ceases to amaze me. I have been collecting his souliers for years now, and they have proved through time to be the most hardy, reliable, and loyal shoes in my wardrobe. No matter how high the heel, how rough or diverse the terrain, there they are to pick me up and keep on moving.

I have worn Louboutins to picnics in the country, à la Isabella Blow. I once found myself at the same English country garden party as her; she was bedecked in a Philip Treacy head-dress, Alexander McQueen cocktail dress, and zebra-skin (actually, perhaps just zebra-print) Manolo Blahnik shoes, with the most vertiginous heels. Every other female guest was in Little House on the Praire skirts and forgettable flats, wary of boring down into the soft, grassy lawn, yet there she was in full fashion regalia, gliding over the grass and molehills, modelling the best of British fashion.

Louboutins have carried me through to sandy beaches, when even the prospect of sinking into the sand would not deter me from a little elevation; although, I must admit, I opted for a red-soled wedge espadrille, rather than a skyscraper, spindly heel.

And, of course, they have accessorised most - for that, read every - outfit in my wardrobe. Louboutins quite simply go with everything.

Part of a Louboutin shoe's appeal is its instantly recognisable sexy red sole, which came about after Louboutin used to paint the soles of his early designs with nail varnish to give them an extra edge.

While working on a prototype in his studio in the early stages of his career, Louboutin was inspired by a work of pop art, and searched for a way to match the shoe to a colourful sketch.

"But something was missing," Louboutin has said. "Thank God I had this girl with me who was painting her nails. Grabbed her nail polish - thank you to Chanel for that! I grabbed the nail polish and I painted the sole. I did not really choose the red sole. It's more like the red sole came to me and had to stay with me. It started as a happy accident, which I kept. I was very inspired by pop art so all my drawings were really full of colors. It didn't take me long to learn from my customers that the red soles were very popular with men. This red sole was a bit of a green light."

Indeed it has been a green light to many a woman's purchase in Christian Louboutin's appropriately red-soled boutiques around the world.

A woman can never have enough shoes, because, after all, "A woman carries her clothes, but it's a shoe which carries a woman."