"The last time I was at a Louboutin party, I almost broke my foot," a woman said as she rode the escalator to the second floor at Bergdorf Goodman last night.

Mr. Louboutin, who has been celebrating his 20th anniversary in business with a series of parties, used the occasion to showcase the winners of a contest among alumni of Parsons, The New School for Design to design an outfit inspired by a collection of shoes he designed for Bergdorf and other stores. The dresses were worn by models who posed around a temporary dance floor.

Things didn't get quite that rowdy at the retailer's red-themed 20th anniversary fête for the shoe maestro. Except, that is, when the man of the hour made his grand entrance. As guests tried to get a photo or an autograph of Louboutin—not easy, what with his pack of bodyguards—even industry insiders admitted that meeting the designer is a thrill.

Bergdorf Goodman looked like a burlesque club on Wednesday night, with the second floor draped in red curtains, the ceiling covered with red balloons and the floor dusted with confetti in the shape of shoes. Christian Louboutin, back in town for the second time in two weeks (the first was to appear at a hearing in his court battle to uphold his trademark on red soles), was sitting in a corner with a performer from the Crazy Horse cabaret.

"In May, I had lunch with him in Budapest. I know it sounds name drop-y, but I'm from the Midwest, so it was pretty exciting," said Paper magazine's Mickey Boardman.

Bergdorf's Linda Fargo was on the same page—she decked herself out in confetti for the occasion. Just how did she manage to attach it to her skin? "I used lots of fake eyelash glue," she told Style.com.
"Originally, I went to the store to get those gold star stickers, like the ones they used to put on your papers in school when you did well, and they looked at me like I was crazy!"

Bringing up his ongoing battle with Yves Saint Laurent over a red-soled shoe design, Mr. Louboutin said that working with the Parsons student reminded him why, after legal setbacks in his case, he was pursuing the fight.

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