LouBhoutan Capsule Collection: Bhutanese traditionalism and the western luxury product

Abstract

This work presents an analysis based on the capsule collection developed by the luxury brand Louboutin, “LouBhoutan” (2020), which brings the culture and art of Bhutan as inspiration for the designs, a country that has aroused Christian Louboutin’s curiosity since he was 18 years old, and which was visited by him for the first time in 2012. This paper will try not only to present a more concrete and realistic view of Bhutan, a country still little known in the West, but also how this collection works and brings an imagined and romanticized identity of the country, also emphasizing its inaccessibility through the luxury market in which Louboutin’s desired red-soled shoes are inserted. From this point on, we will discuss orientalism in this production and the pricing of an Asian identity, based on a select consumption, which still recognize this country for its mythical and symbolic construction, the result of geographical and cultural isolation, making us wonder if we can develop an interest in rediscovering countries in Asia which has received little attention, without getting lost in preconceptions created by the West.