Luxury French shoe designer Christian Louboutin is ditching the red carpet for Rio de Janeiro ? at least for the next few weeks. The Cuban team will be wearing clothes designed by Christian Louboutin to the Rio Olympics.

Louboutin has three stores in Brazil ? one in Brasilia and two in Sao Paolo, in the heart of Iguatemi shopping center, which is sort of like a Brazilian Bloomingdale?s for the country?s luxury aficionados.

Luxury giants have been popping up in Brazil?s upscale shopping centers in recent years, to the delight of the country?s elite.

The French shoe designer is one of about 50 major fashion houses in the country. Others include Louis Vuitton, Cartier and the French leather goods company Longchamp. They?re unstoppable.
But this year, Louboutin is coming to Rio as the official garment designer for the Cuban team.

The designer is abandoning his usual studded loafers, vertiginous sandals, and red soles, and taking on ready-to-wear with a mission to dress the Cuban athletes in style this summer.

If Brazil seems to be fertile ground for the shoe designer and other European brands, the choice of Cuba remains far afield. You don?t need to go to Louboutin?s website to know that he doesn?t sell his famous stilettos in Havana.

Those who have visited Cuba ? the land of Fidel and Raul Castro ? know that the country is mostly populated with small-scale souvenir shops, and hardly any of them sell imported products.

Christian Louboutin?s website will show...