Once upon a time in the '90s a shoe designer, surname: Louboutin, was inspecting a pair of his shoes (let's make an educated guess and say they were stilettos) but felt that something was missing. So, as the story goes, he took a bottle of nail polish and painted the soles red. “Magnifique!” he probably exclaimed, and a cultural phenomenon was birthed.

Flash forward several years to find a shiny new pair of satin heels printed with red lacquered nails in celebration of the launch of the Christian Louboutin's very own glossy red polish—the first of many shades to come. (It's good. Very red, with a thin enough consistency that allows for easy spread but that delivers loads of pigment with only one coat.)

Is this life imitating art or art imitating life? Or if the real question is, “Can you please explain the bottle!” I defer to David Lynch, who directed the Rouge Louboutin campaign video.

—Annie Kreighbaum

Photos by Tom Newton.