How Amina Muaddi, Hollywood’s Favorite Footwear Designer, Masters Eclectic Style

If you don’t have a pair of Amina Muaddi’s heels in your closet, just give it some time. The 33-year-old designer’s vibrant footwear has become ubiquitous in celebrity circles, where stars like Kim Kardashian West, Bella Hadid, and Irina Shayk seek out her square-toe sandals, vampy boots, and newly launched mini bags. The kind of high-impact accessories that make a splash on social media, Muaddi’s shoes (and the designer herself) have had an outsize impact on 2020. After picking up the FN Achievement Award this week alongside Rihanna and Jahleel Weaver for her collaboration with Fenty, Muaddi’s effect on the industry as a whole is unquestionable. 

Growing up, the path from editorial-obsessed teenager to designer wasn’t always straightforward. “By the time I was nine, I was determined to work in the fashion industry,” Muaddi explains. “I was constantly reading magazines and asking my mom how I could get a job in fashion. Obviously, she had no idea. We were living in Jordan and then Romania, and it wasn’t the most open environment. Still, my interests began there.” 

Eventually, Muaddi would move to Italy, where she would enroll in the European Institute of Design in Milan. Before founding her eponymous line, Muaddi worked as a stylist, perfecting looks in the pages of L’Uomo Vogue and GQ. But her love of footwear—everything from sneakers to the highest of heels can be found in her expansive wardrobe—pushed her toward starting a business, one she approached with characteristic zeal. “I love what I do, so it doesn’t feel like a job,” she says. “Fashion is my life, and it takes all my time.”

Muaddi spends the bulk of her days creating collections, but she’s more than a workaholic. A travel enthusiast who before the global lockdown enjoyed a nomadic existence where trips to fashion capitals like London, New York, and Milan were routine, she seeks inspiration everywhere she goes. “I love to experience new places and cultures—every experience is meaningful. I can be inspired by photography, art, or people near me. Anything that captures my eye and provokes an emotion,” says Muaddi. “It’s instinctual when you see something that makes you stop and wonder.”

Amina Muaddi shoes