In these songs, any rapper or singer dropping lines about red bottoms is bragging about fancy shoes, yes, but also about the luxurious lifestyle they or someone else leads. The term red bottoms has really taken off in the 21st century with cultural references in hip-hop, rap, and pop song lyrics. In fact, the term red bottoms has even come to serve as a direct synonym for Louboutin shoes of any heel height. Louboutins have been synonymous with luxury and fashion since their inception. Louboutin, seemingly unaware of who Cardi B is, has not pursued any litigation for the reference. These expensive these is bread bottoms /zK4w8kBVnD The song also inspired a meme where people riffed on her red bottoms lyrics with other footwear. Though many other artists have referenced red bottoms through the years, Cardi B’s hit brought the term back into the spotlight. For 3 weeks at #1 and 35 weeks total on the charts, people could turn on the radio and hear Cardi B rap: “These expensive, these is red bottoms / These is bloody shoes / Hit the store, I can get ’em both / I don’t wanna choose.”īecause she knows she gone be wearing red bottoms when she grown !!! Usage of the specific phrase red bottoms peaked in September, 2017 when American rapper Cardi B’s single “Bodak Yellow” was taking over the Billboard charts. These bloody shoes can’t catch a break, it seems. The trademark, though, is still in court from a 2012 dispute with Dutch brand Van Haren. It would be late 2012 before the case was settled, with the court deciding that shoes with red soles, when the rest of the shoe is any other color, are protected by Louboutin’s trademark. Google searches for red bottoms spiked at the height of this legal battle, when Louboutin appealed a lower court decision to allow YSL to continue producing the red shoes. Laurent to court for designing an all-red shoe-all red meaning, of course, that the soles were red, too. In 2008, Christian Louboutin registered the red soles as a patent, and in early 2011, he took Yves St. In hip-hop culture, red bottoms often figure as a way to tout one’s wealth, as a par of Loubs cost hundreds of dollars on the low end.

Since at least the early 2000s, hip-hop artists dubbed these red bottoms, a term which has since spread into popular culture. And so, red soles were born as a synonym for Louboutins-and an icon of haute couture, luxury, and wealth more generally.

Legend has it that one of his assistants was painting her nails red, which inspired Louboutin to bring the sole of his stiletto to life with a daring pop of red lacquer.

Though Christian Louboutin had been designing shoes since the early 1980s, it was in 1993 when he had the inspiration for what became his signature red bottoms.

Red bottom shoes