Olé! Put your hands together, the new limited edition Christian Louboutin collection is inspired by the tradition of Flamenco: this is FLAMENCABA. Designed in collaboration with actress and friend of Mr Louboutin, Rossy de Palma, the collection features intricate embroideries, fabulous frills and heels sky high to take us onto the dance floor. The house will donate part of the profits to Centro Coreografico Maria Page, an organisation that promotes dance and Spain's cultural heritage, for children and vulnerable people. We spoke to Mr Louboutin and Rossy de Palma about the collection:

How did the collection come about?

RDP: The idea for this collection came with Christian because I wanted to create something around Flamenco, especially with the shoes. Flamenco is not only Spanish or Andalusian, it's a universal art and I wanted to pay tribute to it.

CL: Rossy asked me to create a pair of flamenco shoes for her. From a small project, it finally became a bigger project. It started with a pair of Flamenco shoes and then grew into a whole collection.

How was it working together?

RDP:There is one thing that I love about Christian: working is playing, in a way. He's an admirable person because you never see him stressed, he gives you a lot of attention and for me that's love too, because love is attention, real attention. Taking the time to be thoughtful is true love. We both love to be creative, it's more like fun creativity, complicity, and we always laugh. He is very in touch with his inner child and me too, with his curiosity, his joy of living, he is really someone I adore.

CL: It was so fun! The idea was not to do something particularly serious, but rather to have fun!

What is your best memory together whilst creating the collection?

RDP: My best memory with him is one of our moto rides. I told him that I wanted us to make motorcycle helmets with Flamencaba's pattern. It's really an incredible adventure to ride a vespa with him in Paris. I also have many beautiful memories with him in our personal lives, but these vespa rides with him in Paris, they are priceless!

CL: One night, Rossy did not want to walk so we took the Vespa to go to an Italian restaurant, in Paris. We arrived inside the terrace restaurant within the scooter and people applauded, it was really fun!

Rossy, what do you love about the spirit of the house?

RDP: Christian himself is the spirit of the Maison. We have been friends for decades, he is interested by so many topics, he travels a lot, he always has this joy of living and peace of mind at the same time. He is curious, he creates, he innovates. He loves travel, he loves people, he loves diversity, he loves cultures, he loves mixing all kinds of cultures, everything is inspiring about him! He also has warm hospitality. When I have been made "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French government, Christian was in Italy working and he said to me: "I am preparing a dinner for you". With all my guests, we were around forty, we all went to Christian's house and he hosted us, it really was an important moment for me. I worked on a show called "Resilience d'amour", and one of the scenes in this show features strass Louboutin shoes, and me with a ballet tutu and trapesist which I personalised with fringes, and I come out of a shoebox, as if I were a Christian Louboutin acrobat. He was the inspiration for this show.

What inspired the collection?

R.D.P: The inspiration comes from Flamenco, and Flamenco is a joy of living, but with a dramatic and melancholic spirit. The fringes found in the collection are inspired by all the scarves of Flamenco dancers. I worked a lot with Christian and his collaborators, he gives his touch, and his validation of course. He is surrounded by a team that is refined like an orchestra, and he is the chef. His whole team has an incredible heart, and they can get with any music, in our case it's the Flamencaba, there was no false note.

C.L: What's important to me in this collection is the relationship to dance, and more specifically to Flamenco. As Rossy said, Flamenco is a Spanish dance from the south of Spain, but it's more about the spirit of Flamenco, which is a very large topic.

You're making a donation to a charity with this collection. Why is this important to you?

CL: For some time now, I have always tried to link special projects to charities. In a way, giving back feels completely normal to me when I do things that are special. And in a way, with the seasonal cabas, there is this idea of highlighting special craftsmanship and Savoir Faire in specific fields, it's essential to me to also show some of the difficulties that these fields can face and support them.‍

Craftsmanship is obviously an important part of your work. Tell us about how it played into this collection?

CL: My father was a craftsman, so somehow I realised that in my work I always had a relationship to craftsmanship. There has always been a relationship to wood, to sculpture, to different types of craftsmanship. So, it's something that I've always had, I didn't do it thinking about it in a way, but I realized after many years that there was always a connection to craftsmanship and that I owe it to my father.

What is the message behind this collection?

CL: There is such a great variety in the word, behind every country, region and city there is a specific craftsmanship and specific ways of working. It starts from language to music, from craftsmanship to sculpture and woodwork to costumes. I always had a true fascination for all cultures and I really pay a lot of attention to make sure they are under the spotlight and can have a voice. We need to look beyond ourselves and our own communities.

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