Speed Dial

Christian Louboutin's speed dial is like a French fairy tale in shorthand—not unlike the enchanted shoes he designs in Paris, wicked pumps and princess slippers that are objects of desire the world over and will grace many a runway at the couture shows there this month. For starters, button No. I is marked simply with a heart, "because love," says Louboutin, "is before everything."

Louboutin is famous among his friends for his exquisite gossip, which he calls "nonaggressive chat." Daily chatmates include Farida Seidoux at Azzedine Alaia (3).

"She's the P.R., the muse of Azzedine, the godmother," says the 34-year-old designer. "I call Farida three times a day. The morning is to say, 'How was the evening?' Then before lunch is 'Where are you going to lunch?' And then the evening is 'How was lunch?'" Diane Von Furstenberg (5) "is the afternoon, a real chat."

He calls his country house, Champgillon (4), a 13th-century chateau, daily to check on the garden and his collection of rare chickens and ducks. "The ducks need water, but the chickens may drown in the water of the ducks. So I always check who is dead."

Nos. 2 and 7 are work (factory and store), and No. 6 is his New York publicist, Juliet Safro Berkowitz, who often receives a wakeup call. Nos. 8, 9, and 0 are strangely related. Frenchway (8) is Louboutin's travel agent, and the locksmith (9) is programmed because "I always lose my keys—then I cannot go in, cannot go out.

I'm just out." This spirit of dislocation blossoms in 0, which is always labeled for the most recent trip Louboutin has taken. "Every time I go to a new country which I love, I always keep in mind that I want to move there." Today, 0 is Uzbekistan. Tomorrow, as in a fairy tale, who knows?

LAURA JACOBS