Amina Muaddi is a fashion designer who became famous for her architectural heels
Amina Muaddi’s footwear conquers everyone, including many well-known faces from the world of celebrities. We see them worn by stars like Rihanna, who sports them in her photoshoots and even collaborated with Muaddi for the Fenty footwear line, but more on that later. They have been worn by Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé, who selected various models by Amina Muaddi for her Renaissance Tour, thus contributing to the success. In Italy, it was Ilary Blasi who proudly showed off her rainbow-colored Muaddi.
Amina’s collection is incredibly diverse, catering to a wide range of tastes, although they stand out above all for their extravagance. Muaddi’s creations are the paradigm of party footwear: elegant, sophisticated and never banal.
Photo credit: Amina Muaddi instagram
Amina Muaddi and her signature heels
Photo credit: Amina Muaddi, personal instagram
Who is Amina Muaddi? Amina Muaddi, a 35-year-old designer of Jordanian-Romanian origin, developed her passion for fashion since she was a child, inspired by her mother’s footwear and her grandmother’s sophisticated taste for clothing.
Born in a country where fashion was limited, she made the decision to move to Italy, to Milan, the fashion capital, to start her career.
After attending the European Institute of Design in Milan, Amina Muaddi built her career through internships at renowned fashion publications, including Vogue Italia, Vogue L’Uomo and GQ New York, working as a fashion designer. Despite her passion for fashion in general, she focused her interest on shoes, deepening her skills as a shoemaker in Venice, collaborating with local artisans and learning the secrets of the trade in the Riviera del Brenta.
Amina Muaddi founded her first shoe brand, Oscar Tiye, at the age of 26 in 2013, together with her friend and business partner Irina Curutz. Six years later, she decided to leave Oscar Tiye and Milan to move to Paris, where she collaborated with Alexandre Vauthier on a collection called “Amina” and planned to launch her eponymous brand in 2018. Her determination led to success, allowing her to realize her dream of having her own brand in the fashion world.
What differentiates her heels? His shoes are made in Italy, specifically in Parma. This makes it stand out for Made in Italy, wanting to create a high quality handcrafted product that was modern and timeless, dedicated to women who want to be feminine and glamorous.
Amina’s intention was to create classic footwear that women could wear for multiple seasons and help make them look cool and modern. Even the price of these shoes makes us understand that they are not for women who want to buy on impulse but for all those women who intend to invest in collectible shoes and that they can wear on several occasions even after some time from purchase because they will never go out of style.
Its style is unmistakable, with bright colors, such as lime green and orange, and glitter cannot be missing. In fact, Amina’s shoes are full of glitter and diamonds but also studs for women with a rock soul.
The success of Amina Muaddi
In just four years since the start of her brand, Amina Muaddi has won numerous prestigious awards and recognitions. Her commitment and talent earned her inclusion in the BoF 500 last year, victory at the Fashion Trust Arabia in 2021 , and addition to the jury in 2022. In 2020, she was named Designer of the Year at the Footwear News Achievement Awards, and was recently honored as Entrepreneur of the Year by GQ.
Despite the successes already achieved, Amina Muaddi, at only 35 years old, shows an unstoppable determination to pursue new goals and dreams. Her latest creations go beyond shoes, also extending to bags, another accessory much loved by women. Initially focused on a collection of evening bags, Amina launched a line of day bags in the fall of last year. This expansion of its product range highlights its continuous innovation and willingness to meet the diverse needs of women.
Not only does she stop at enriching her collections with proposals other than shoes but, Amina Muaddi does not seem to want to slow down and opens her first pop-up stores, with the aim of opening a single-brand store in the near future.
The first experiment to gauge the market’s response to the retail of its collections was on April 20, 2023, when it opened its first 90-square-meter shop-in-shop inside Harrods in London. The store offered a wide range of Muadi footwear collections, including the famous “Begum”, “Rosie” and “Tigit”, presented in a bright and silver space, with the shoes displayed in coordinated colors. The ambience is almost reminiscent of a “shoe bar,” with jacuzzi-like seating, complete with mini coffee tables that all lead to floor-to-ceiling mirrors emblazoned with the logo.
In July 2023, in collaboration with Tessabit, Amina created an exclusive pop-up store on Lake Como, at Villa d’Este Luxury Hotel. To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Tessabit exhibited Amina Muaddi’s new summer collection, offering an exclusive piece available only for Tessabit: the Begum slingback, a tribute to the modern, proud and elegant woman in a limited edition.
After its success, in December 2023, Amina opened another major Amina Muadi shopping destination: in Dubai. This initiative involved architect Harry Nuriev of the Crosby Studios design studio and includes a pavilion located on Kite Beach, a popular meeting place for residents of the um Suqeim neighborhood and beyond.
The pop-up store, made in collaboration with local luxury women’s clothing retailer Ounass, is housed in an oblong structure with semicircular ends, made of polished metal and with floor-to-ceiling glass sides, offering sweeping views of the interior from afar. Inside, a grid-like core sits next to a large display, both made of metal and featuring Amina Muaddi’s shoes and bags. Existing collections are presented here, but all made exclusively in special colors for this pop-up shop.
But, how did it come to have this success in such a short time?
Amina Muaddi x Rihanna
Social media has played a significant role in the designer’s success. Amina Muaddi created her profile at just 26 years old and has been constantly developing and marketing her cool and glamorous lifestyle, often sharing content from her travels around the world, which is a continuous source of inspiration for her creations. The diverse elements featured in his collections reflect his eclectic sense of style and cosmopolitan sensibility.
Amina’s Instagram profile plays a central role in her brand’s marketing strategy, as her stylish life is projected into her eponymous brand. Amina regularly shares content that shows celebrities wearing her shoes with various outfits, creating an aspiration to their lifestyle and eye-catching wardrobes for customers. She maintains a strong connection with her community, interacting with fans and sharing photos of them whenever they feature a pair of Amina Muadi heels.
However, one of the key factors that contributed significantly to the designer’s success was the collaboration with Rihanna, for which she created a capsule of heels for the Fenty brand. This partnership has further amplified the brand’s visibility and resonance, solidifying Amina Muaddi’s position in the fashion industry.
What are we talking about? The goal of the Fenty x Amina Muaddi collection was to establish a partnership with some of the most promising young talents in the fashion system.
The footwear line includes four distinct styles: “Caged In,” a leather-strapped sandal available in deep pink and white; Code Word“, an acid green sandal with a square toe and PVC support strap; “Braid Me Up“, another strappy sandal in a warm brown decorated with crystals; and a mesh mule called the “Meshy Mules,” which comes in black and nude. Each of these models features an architectural inverted stiletto heel, inspired by the shape of a steel nail.
The synergy between Amina Muaddi’s distinctive style and Fenty’s unconventional approach is evident in this design mix. The collaboration was so successful that it was awarded Contributor of the Year at the 34th FN Achievement Awards in 2020. A year later, Amina Muaddi was included in Women’s Wear Daily’s and Footwear News’ list of the 50 Most Powerful Women.
From that moment on, Amina Muaddi has expanded her brand, introducing proposals that go beyond footwear, with a focus on bags and jewelry. Every year, he continues to create new collections of bags, trying to replicate the success achieved with footwear. Her first bag launched on the market was called “Amini“: a rectangular bag with a square style, available in different colors, textures and sizes. The “Begum” earrings, launched in 2020, are named after the popular Begum heel and feature the signature sunburst jewel.
Photo credit: Amina Muaddi, personal instagram
Amina Muaddi’s business continues to grow over time, creating successful collections. The future of the brand is still uncertain, but the general consensus is that it will certainly be an exciting journey, given the remarkable success achieved over the past five years.
And you, did you know Amina Muaddi and her iconic creations? Stay tuned because we’ll be delving into the specific features of these iconic footwear soon!
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