Valentino Made Its First Red Sole 20 Years Before Louboutin

Christian Louboutin's red soles are iconic, but they might not be original—the recent mess of lawsuits against YSL have tickled Giancarlo Giammetti, the business partner (and partner-partner!) of retired Valentino designer, Valentino Garvani. Though Louboutin patented the red sole in 2008, Giancarlo maintains that red soles have been used for centuries, dating back to the 1600's. Besides, Valentino used red soles since 1969 to match his iconic red dresses, twenty-some years before Louboutin debuted his red soles in 1992. So...there! (WWD)