Models Mamadou Giagne and Mame Thiane Camara front the MYTHERESA x Christian Louboutin fall collaboration, lensed by Berlin-based Lea Wormsbach {IG].

Louboutin is a regular collaborator with the Munich-based retailer, who is seeking a significantly-stronger presence in the American market. In summer 2021, Mytheresa launched an exclusive range of slides, flip-flops and sneakers for summer. The playful, joyful rainbow hues shoes were embellished with Louboutin’s signature spikes.

Christian Laboutin: Great on Black Activism; Severely Lacking on Sustainability

Earlier this year, AOC was in awe of Christian Laboutin’s ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ Campaign , launched with close friends Irdis Elba and his wife Sabrina Elba. The superb campaign was centered on promoting Black activism with a simple and relatable concept of imagining each of us living the daily life [walking in the shoes] of an anonymous person of color, so often the subject of everyday racism. That campaign resonated deeply with AOC, and we promoted it heavily.

Searching now for Christian Laboutin’s views and action plan for sustainability, our experience is exactly the opposite. Interviewed in Numero Netherlands in December, 2020, the designer shares a view about sustainability that is certainly correct:

"Everyone talks about sustainability, that's true. But I don't want to fall into the marketing trap. Words like "sustainable" or "organic" sound great, but there is often a void behind them. I take it seriously and that means it takes time. I would like to do it well, instead of claiming to be sustainable because, for example, we use a different kind of leather. "

Numero Netherlands then asks: “No vegan leather for Louboutin? Louboutin answers:

"It's about looking further. It is nice that some plants can replace leather. But if you have to cut down forests to plant those plants and then need a lot of water to make them grow, I don't think that's sustainable. Sustainability requires a thorough evaluation. Concepts such as vegan and fake leather fall short in this. Research on how to make less impact on the planet is at the heart of the new chapter. "

AOC finds Christian Louboutin’s response to be condescending and ill-informed, one that reveals a total ignorance — for lack of a better word — of all the exciting developments in vegan leather going on around him.

His statement borders on a rebuke of Stella McCartney — she who has also dealt with the reality of cutting down trees and only buys from her cupro now from ancient forests. His statement is a total lack of knowledge of the exciting changes going on at Bolt ‘Threads’ and their development of mycelium leather, allowing Stella to bring the first Mylo handbag to market in spring 2022.

Environmentalism and the Male Brain

We are comparing luxury designer to luxury designer here — and there is no reason for Christian Laboutin to be so flippant about efforts he can take in his own label to offer a stronger statement and action plan around sustainability.

Fast-fashion can’t possibly buy their cupro from carefully-managed ancient forests. The luxury market can.

Laboutin’s use of the term ‘fake leather’ diminishes the most exciting developments going on in the world of science and biotextiles. Frankly, he sounds like a 21st century Republican and a man standing John Wayne tall on his love of leather.

Laboutin forewarns us that he needs a lot more time to ruminate on these issues. Ah yes, the inner workings of the always-complex, usually-brilliant male mind. Meanwhile, the world is burning.

Women have long surpassed men in our commitment to environmentalism — which is a problem when men have historically held all the power of change. A tremendous body of research well-documents this gender-specific reality around environmentalism activism; and this 2017 Scientific American article Men Resist Green Behavior as Unmanly catches our eye.

Men tend to want to feel macho, and they worry that eco-friendly behaviors might brand them as feminine, assert researchers Aaron R. Brough and James E.B. Wilkie.

Personally, AOC thinks Christian Laboutin should spend an afternoon with Stella McCartney and Gabriela Hearst and they will give him plenty of action-oriented sourcing information he can ponder over tea. Meanwhile, AOC is running with open arms into this research on male resistance to environmental action, as it ties to their masculinity.

We’ve NEVER considered the ‘problem’ from this new angle of perceived masculinity. It makes sense when you consider that man’s triumph over nature — that unwieldy, corrupt feminine entity — is a core concept of patriarchy and also monotheism.

It is a fact that when AOC starts off on a post, I never know where it will end. And you — darling readers — are along for the ride. You have to admit it gets interesting. ~ Anne