J'taime Le Rituel; Piper Heidsieck x Christian Louboutin

While most believe the ritual to have begun in 1880's France, the first mention of a man imbibing from the shoe of a beautiful woman actually takes place in Chicago:

"When sisters Ada and Minna Lester came to Chicago in 1899, they leased a three-story, fifty room double mansion, refurbished it and opened the Everleigh Club on February 1, 1900. The mansion had an art gallery, a library, and a huge ballroom with chandeliers of cut glass and three orchestras. The bedrooms were lavishly decorated and sound-proofed, had marble in-laid brass beds, and there were always thirty of the most lovely girls on duty 24 hours a day. Prince Henry of Prussia reportedly visited the club in 1902. During a banquet in his honor, one of the girls' shoes flew off while dancing, hit a glass of wine and spilled some of the champagne into the shoe. A man nearby picked up the slipper and drank the wine from it. Almost on cue, the entire group arose after taking a slipper from the girl he was with, had the waiters pour champagne into them, toasted the Prince, then drank from them. Wine was sipped from a slipper for the first time."

Over the years Chicago became the more romantic France, a dirty slipper became a sexy stiletto, and the story spread like wildfire. Despite the discrepancies, one thing remains: undertones of flirtation, decadence, and lowered inhibitions.

No stranger to sexy decadence, famed designer Christian Louboutin has thrown his hat into the ring. In order to commemorate the launch of his champagne in partnership with Piper Heidsieck, the shoe-god has designed a limited edition boxed-set inspired by the ancient ritual. Appropriately named "Le Rituel", the set contains of a bottle of Piper Heidsieck's champagne and a red-soled glass stiletto designed by Louboutin.


Piper-Heidsieck is known for their creative collaborations-- In 2007, the champagne house teamed with eccentric design house Viktor & Rolf to create Viktor & Rolf Rosé Sauvage. In true V&R fashion, the bottom of the bottle is really the top, the back is actually the front, and corresponding accessories (ice bucket and champagne flutes) follow suit: the flute becomes a cocktail glass once flipped.

I don't even drink alcohol, and I'll be purchasing this set...along with about 5 million of my fellow fashionistas. It may be the closest I come to Louboutins for a while.

Available October 26th exclusively at Colette.