Luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin’s namesake boutique is the first of the new shops to debut from the makeover underway at Highland Park Village. The HPV location, set between Patrizio’s and Vilebrequin, is the designer’s seventh U.S. boutique that carries only the brand’s women’s and men’s shoes and handbags.
If you plan to score some of Louboutin’s famous red-soled, sky-high heels, you’ll want to know Erin Malstrom, the manager of the Dallas store. Malstrom is a Fayetteville, Arkansas, native who first came to Dallas seven years ago to work for another luxury fashion house, Louis Vuitton. She moved with Vuitton across the country, including stints in Manhattan and most recently Austin, but she never forgot the big-city-yet-small-town feel of Dallas and always wanted to return. When she heard Louboutin was coming to HPV, she jumped at the chance to land her dream job.
Malstrom was a self-professed “shoe girl” and a huge fan of the brand even before signing on. “I remember strolling with a guy friend past the beautiful Louboutin store on Horatio Street in Manhattan. I told him he needed to find a girl with a pair of red-soled shoes,” Malstrom says. “They give you a whole new demeanor and set you apart. You just walk differently.”
She thinks Louboutin appeals to a diverse audience of shoe lovers, from ostentatious fashionistas to more conservative ladies who lunch. The boutique has shoes for both, including exclusive styles that you can’t find at Neiman Marcus or Barneys. One hot style for fall, the Clou Noeud 150 studded sling back, recently spotted on Rihanna and Heidi Klum, is no longer available anywhere but the Dallas boutique. Better put Malstrom on speed dial.