Jaden Smith has officially stepped into his role as Men’s Creative Director at Christian Louboutin, unveiling his first Autumn Winter 26 collection in Paris this week. Rather than a traditional runway show, Smith’s debut takes the form of an immersive exhibition, blurring the boundaries between fashion, visual art, music and history, and reflecting both the Maison’s legacy and his own personal creative language.
The exhibition is shaped by photography and cinema, two mediums not only central to Smith’s creative world, but also deeply connected to France, where many of their earliest developments took place. Drawing on 19th-century experiments with light and movement by pioneers such as Niépce, Daguerre and the Lumière brothers, the experience reflects on how images have long played a role in shaping identity, memory and the way we see ourselves over time.
At its core, the collection is anchored in an appreciation for craftsmanship and time. “This collection is inspired by the history of working men throughout the centuries,” Smith explains. “The stone masons, the scribes, the doctors. It’s inspired by the lost epochs of time and made by hands born from stars, forged under immense pressure deep in cosmic space.”
The journey begins in the Projection Room, where Christian Louboutin’s signature red is refracted through moving image. From there, the exhibition opens into the collection itself. Each shoe becomes a vessel for Smith’s cultural references and personal history. The Trapman silhouette appears first, reinterpreted through the lens of 1990s hip-hop — a formative era for Smith. “Hip-hop culture is at the centre of my design philosophy,” he says, “while creating the formal attire for the men of the future.” There's also the Corteo. First introduced in Autumn Winter 2019, for Smith, the shoe embodies “the businessman, the working man — people who wear a suit, who show up with intention, who build something through discipline and effort.”
Beyond the shoes themselves, the exhibition expands into a meditation on image-making and collective memory. A 360-degree installation of vintage television screens stitches together moments from across human history, underscoring how images circulate and shape cultural consciousness. Personal symbolism is also woven throughout. An angel sculpture from Christian Louboutin’s own collection — featured in his first shoot with Smith — appears as a guardian figure, representing their creative bond and mutual respect.
Offering an early glimpse into his universe, Smith also launches an avant-première capsule collection, available from January 22 in select boutiques and online. Revisiting signature silhouettes and introducing avant-garde designs in a strict palette of red, black and white, the capsule sets the stage for the full Men’s Autumn Winter 2026 collection, which will arrive in stores this June.
