Jaden Smith Told a Multigenerational Story at Christian Louboutin
- MILES SOCHA
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
For his sophomore collection, he widened the aperture for ages and wearing occasions — along with several conversation-starting shoes and accessories.
While prized for his youthful zeal and next-gen instincts, Jaden Smith set out to embrace multiple generations with his sophomore collection as men’s creative director of Christian Louboutin.
He propped two giant red feet — a wink to the Colossus of Rhodes — in front of the Palais Brongniart in Paris in an all-red takeover meant to evoke a lost civilization.
Inside was a mammoth circular arrangement of monoliths that brought to mind Stonehenge — if it were found on Mars — on which Smith displayed his spring 2027 collection.
There were shoes for every member of his imaginary kingdom: gleaming patent evening brogues, the outsole ringed with crystals, for the ruling patriarch, down to bulging sneakers or low-profile skater shoes for the grandchildren.
“I was thinking about four generations of men, the different things that they do, what they think about, and what’s important to them,” he told WWD.
He spiked the presentation with plenty of fantasy, including square-toe lace-ups with all five digits demarcated in relief; a pair of zany red Sasquatch-esque slip-ons, and a black leather quiver filled with leather arrows.
“This is really about me wanting to tell stories, and to evoke childlike wonder in people’s minds,” Smith said about the latter accessory. “There’s a lot of characters in some of my favorite movies who do archery, stories like ‘Robin Hood’ or ‘Lord of the Rings.'”
Those who follow Smith on Instagram might have seen his over-the-top reaction to the mind-blowing golden-hour view he discovered from the rooftop of Galeries Lafayette in Paris, where he made a personal appearance in tandem with the drop of his first collection for Louboutin.
But Smith can show restraint, too, translating his intense love of sunsets into magnificent red-to-black gradients on derbies gleaming like a prize sports car, and giving black loafers personality, and a dressy/industrial edge by adding silver bars along the outsoles — bringing to mind silver tie clips.
Many of his shoes rank as conversation starters, from a derby with its toe box bulging with sparkly, nail-like studs, to the sneakers Smith wore under his wide-leg jeans, with childlike shapes and figures splayed over the laces, collar and quarters.
The American rapper and actor said he’s been relishing the chance to meet with customers at retail activations. “Everybody loves the flip-flops,” he reported.
And he’s still on cloud nine about the opportunity to flex his design muscles beyond his streetwear label Msftsrep.
“The reward for me is really just being able to do it in the first place, to be here in Paris, to go into the office and to design things,” he said. “And seeing people in the shoes. I love it and post about it. That’s the cherry on top.”