I understand that high-street chains follow designer trends, making them available for the broad masses, amongst them myself. I also understand that sometimes, inspiration can be a bit overwhelming, limiting their own creative input into the design.
But really?:
Tiamo Pump
A reminder of the Loubis:
Christian Louboutin Rolando Zipper Pump
Sorry about the artsy fartsy picture (from Jennie Hammar) but this is an old model and sold out everywhere except for the shi*load of shops selling cheap knock offs.
I know that Christian Louboutin was not allowed to get a patent for the red soles but somehow, seeing them on any other shoe makes me cringe a tiny bit. If it is a great looking shoe otherwise, it seems like the designer lacked the confidence in his/her own design and went for a safe card, just in case. If it looks poorly designed, the impression is lack of originality but “hey, we know what will sell among younger groups, slap on that red sole and we’ll do fine”.
Anyhow, there are a couple of conclusions to be drawn here depending on the starting point:
1. Pure laziness.To the extent of getting inspiration from a model that is a couple of seasons old, not something currently on the market.
2. Not knowing about the above mentioned Loubis. In which case, the person in question should either work for Louboutin&co (considering they seem to think extremely similar) or not work with shoe design at all. Let’s face it, if you decide to go for the red sole to start with, you should know your homework.
