Jaden Smith‘s appointment as Christian Louboutin‘s new men’s creative director generated $5.4 million in media impact value over the course of just 48 hours, according to Launchmetrics, thanks to the official Instagram post announcement shared on the brand’s account on Wednesday.
Smith’s role, the first of its kind, will see the artist working alongside the namesake brand’s founder on the men’s collection, which took shape roughly 15 years ago when Louboutin initially expanded his red-soled footwear into the men’s category.
Courtesy of Christian Louboutin
The Instagram post that generated $5.4 million in MIV features a portrait of Smith with red makeup — an homage to Louboutin’s distinctive red soles. (MIV is a proprietary metric that assigns a true monetary value to marketing strategies across print, online and social media in order to calculate ROI.) The single post drove five times more value than Louboutin’s typical content on Instagram
Smith will relocate to Paris to fulfill his duties as men’s creative director. The artist’s duties will involve the creation of four collections a year for shoes. He’ll present his first designs in January during men’s fashion week in the French capital.
“This is one of the biggest honors of my life, and I feel a lot of pressure to be able to live up to everything that Christian has done for the house, and also stepping into such a serious role,” Smith told WWD over Teams from Los Angeles.
Jaden Smith and Christian Louboutin
Courtesy of Christian Louboutin
“When he reached out to me, I was just blown away, because of how similar we are and how much we like to do things in a similar manner. I can’t wait to show the world what we’ve been working on,” Smith said. “I think that the universe of Christian Louboutin men’s has so much potential.”
While his men’s creative director appointment with Louboutin is the biggest step in his relationship with footwear, Smith has a strong bond with other brands, including his own. The artist and his sister Willow cofounded streetwear label MSFTSrep in 2012. He’s also a New Balance ambassador and has collaborated with the brand on designs in the past.
