Whether you know it or not, you probably have seen a Christian Louboutin shoe in a fashion magazine, gossip tabloid or on a Hollywood starlet.

It is easy to distinguish Louboutin's shoes in the throngs of designers' shoes on the market, in fact it would be easy to spot a pair in an entire sea of heels. It's the sexy red sole of the stilettos that set them apart.

Worn by Angelina Jolie, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Victoria Beckham and Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as her alter ego Carrie Bradshaw, the very mention of a Christian Louboutin heel has famous and non-famous women swooning.

Although these “piece of art,” as described by Oprah Winfrey, cost anywhere from $150 to $5,000, the signature red-sole shoes come in boots, stilettos, to boots, but very few flat shoes. The prices are very high but I guess that's the price you have to pay for perfection designed by a perfectionist.

Louboutin, who is a 44-year-old Parisian, was born to create shoes. He recalls he used to draw shoes in his notebook when he was a teenager, using inspiration from cabaret and showgirls, and still sketches constantly today. Although he left school at the age of 16, a decision Louboutin doesn't regret, he opened his fist boutique in Paris in 1992 and has now branched out globally in major cities such as New York, Las Vegas and Hong Kong.

Louboutin is a true artist and sticks to his craft. The heels are hand made and all carry a woman's moniker. He rarely gives interviews, perfering to let his shoes do the talking, but in a short interview by the Telegraph UK in March 08, Louboutin describes his passion for women and his commitment to make the best heel possible.

“I feel suffering to be beautiful doesn't make any sense. A shoe, it needs to be pretty, but you shouldn't suffer. Happiness is much nicer,” Louboutin said to the paper.

He added that many of his heels have a sort of hidden plate-form so it looks like the wearer is walking in seven-inch heels, but in actual fact she is walking on five-inch heels.

So how was his trademark red sole thought up?

The idea came to him when one of his assistants was painting her nails a scarlet red, he then added the red nail polish to the sole of a shoe he had been drawing. “It was a drawing for me, [but] quite quickly it became a trademark, I saw that it was an element of flirt,” the designer said.