Glamorous shoe designer Amina Muaddi has revolutionized the world of stiletto heels. If Louboutin became known for his red soles, Muaddi made geometric heels her trademark. Dua Lipa, Kendall Jenner, and Rihanna are some of the famous loyal fans of her designs.
F Luxury presents this designer who gained prominence mainly for breaking a certain monopoly in the footwear world dominated by Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, bringing a more contemporary and stylish version into the market. From intern to millionaire fashion designer, Muaddi paved the way for success in high heels, and her story is truly inspiring.
Born in Romania to a Romanian mother and a Jordanian father, Amina Muaddi is a shoe designer who has come to spell the word success differently than usual. The 35-year-old has gone from fashion designer to social media influencer, having undertaken an extraordinary journey with shoes that would make Cinderella set aside her crystal slipper. With the separation of her parents, Muaddi spent her childhood in Romania with her mother, whom she let know at the age of 9 that she wanted to work in fashion. She was constantly reading magazines and asking her mother how she could get a job in fashion. Neither Jordan, where she had lived previously nor Romania was a very open and conducive environment to work in…
Giving up was not an option, so Amina pursued her dream and went to study at the European Institute of Design in Milan, and also worked as a stylist for some magazines, such as Italian Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, and later GQ in New York. While working, she discovered that she would like to delve deeper into the world of shoes. So she left for Riviera del Brenta, a famous shoe manufacturing district in Italy. There, in the metropolitan city of Venice, where artisans have been making shoes for centuries, she cofounded, with her business partner Irina Curutza, 2013, her first shoe brand, named Oscar Tiye.
It was the Minnie Mouse heels that Amina designed under the Oscar Tiye label that put her name on the map as a designer for the first time. Leaving the company, she moved, in 2017, to Paris. In the City of Light, she met French couturier Alexandre Vauthier and, for the past seven years, she has also signed his shoe line. While working with Vauthier on a collection called Amina, she began to make plans to launch a new brand. His perseverance and willpower paid off and Muaddi launched her own, eponymous brand in 2018, with a pyramid-shaped heel that has become her signature. Muaddi announced the launch of her second insignia with a message in a post that read “I hope you like @aminamuaddiofficial as much as I do, and I wish you enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed creating it for you, amazing women of today”.
Soon after the launch, the first shoes sold out. She then launched a capsule collection for the MyTheresa website in March 2020, just as the world was about to shut down. And yet, her crystal-embellished sandals sold out within hours of launching – something that still happens today. From a net worth of five million dollars in 2017, the “girl” in the eye-catching heels is now worth twice that (about ten million dollars in 2022). According to Forbes data from 2020, her brand’s sales have seen a 400% growth. Relying on streetwear as a priority and in the 1990s for style inspiration, the designer also became known for her geometric sandals with straps tied around the leg. A style that soon won over famous people like Dua Lipa, the sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and model Rosie-Huntington-Whiteley. And a detail: each Muaddi shoe is named after a woman.
In early 2022, Muaddi was named Entrepreneur of the Year by GQ Middle East. However, her success should not only be credited to the celebrities who wore her designs or wealthy buyers during the pandemic. Her inspiring aesthetic, marketing skills and a lot of determination are the real reasons behind her success. For example, Muaddi has never needed to resort to paid advertising, relying mostly on her Instagram, with 1.3 million followers. The thriving designer has also appeared on the covers of magazines such as Vogue Arabia, GQ Middle East, and L’Officiel Turkiye, and was featured in Vanity Fair Italia. Another detail is the fact that the designer limits herself to launching only two collections a year, which only increases the curiosity and whets the appetite around each collection launch.
But there is no denying that Muaddi’s celebrity fans have increased her brand recognition worldwide. From music industry titans like Beyoncé and Dua Lipa to the Kardashians, some of the strongest and most influential women in the public eye have been seen wearing crystal heels on more than one occasion. Rihanna, in particular, stands out for being so fond of Muaddi’s designs, choosing to show off the designer’s shoes in various photo shoots over the years, and has even collaborated with Muaddi on footwear for her Fenty brand.
Today, the Amina Muaddi brand is available in nearly one hundred international multi-brand spaces. Famous stores where the brand is present include established names such as Selfridges, Harrods in London, and Antonioli in Milan. In 2020, Muaddi also expanded into accessories, having launched mini wallets, nicknamed Amini, as well as eye-catching earrings. With such creativity and success, we can’t wait to see what the talented Amina Muaddi comes up with next…
