I'm conflicted. Given the times, I can't help but find something about the blatant opulence of the new Christian Louboutin print campaign a little off-putting (a feeling heightened, maybe, by the fact that the styling makes me recall the people who were on the wrong side of the Bastille, and a suspicion that the concept is just an artful way to scream conspicuous luxury at the super-rich).But on a purely aesthetic level the images are exquisite, on a branding level I think they're genius, and there is a dark undertone of decadence (and maybe irony?) to them that keeps me from resenting the unattainable. And of course, fashion is about nothing if not fantasy. (I'm also forced to admit that my love of a beautiful shoe places it somewhere near water and food in my own hierarchy of needs.)In the end I think I just have to give it up for the creative direction that produced a beautiful campaign able to operate simultaneously on so many different levels. See the entire campaign (photography by Peter Lippmann, styling by Amandine Moine, and creative direction by Nicolas Menu), at View on Fashion.