Amina Muaddi
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2022
Jordanian-Romanian creative director and designer Amina Muaddi has shifted the landscape of the footwear industry in just 4 short years with the launch of her eponymous accessory brand in 2018. Helmed by her peers and consumers as a creative force that knows what women want, Muaddi designs for the modern day women of the world. Her line, designed in Paris and made in Italy, combines centuries of shoe-making expertise and craftsmanship along with a global fashion perspective. It is this traditional training along with Muaddi’s worldly and cutting-edge taste that has laid the foundation for her personal expression through her brand. However it’s her signature pyramid and sculptural heels, her innovative approach to marketing and disruptive approach to sales that has catapulted the brand into cult status. For you can always spot an Amina Muaddi shoe.
Born in Romania to a Jordanian father and Romanian mother, Amina spent her early childhood in Jordan then relocated to Romania at age 6. She developed an eye for details by observing her mother’s sense of style. She recalls that by the age of 9, she was determined to work in the fashion industry. This led Muaddi at the age of 16 to move to Italy with her aunt where she went to high school and then studied at the European Institute of Design in Milan, later working as a stylist for magazines such as L’Uomo Vogue and GQ US in New York. However it was Muaddi’s time spent in Riviera del Brenta in 2012, the historical shoe making district, that fueled her passion for the trade, allowing her to work with world-class artisans and suppliers eventually leading her to develop each and every one of her shoes’ 40-50 components.
Muaddi co-founded her first shoe brand, Oscar Tiye, in Milan of 2012 with the co-founders later parting ways in 2017. However as stated by Muaddi “it’s not about what you go through, it’s how you survive (the situation) and thrive after it.” It was during this time that Muaddi moved to Paris to lay down her roots in one of the biggest fashion capitals of the world to start from scratch and build anew. Her striking silhouettes garnered the admiration of women all over the world and led to her collaboration with French couturier Alexandre Vauthier on the launch of his eponymous shoe line which Muaddi would go on to design for 5 years showing each Paris Couture Week.
By 2018 Muaddi had found the freedom and creative spark to create an original silhouette in her heels (now instantly recognizable) and the time had come to launch her own line. She presented and sold her first collection to ten retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-porter and Harrods. The collection would later turn out to be an impressive success, selling out within one day from the launch.
In 2019 Muaddi was commissioned by Rihanna to design footwear for her Fenty brand under LVMH which launched in July of 2020. Footwear News would later go on to reward their creative effort with the Collaborator of the Year Award.
From the brand’s loyal consumer following (even amidst a pandemic), to it’s influence on pop culture with collaborations across from Wolford to AWGE to film and tv fashion with stand out moments in HBO’s Euphoria and Insecure, Muaddi and her brand have no signs of slowing down with expansions into handbags in 2020 and custom jewelry in 2021. Her shoes and accessories can be seen on many of the world’s most elusive celebrities and her impact on the industry as a whole is unquestionable.
Today Muaddi is focused on building a strong infrastructure for her company, scaling her business with intentional and thoughtful choices and continuing to design products that empower and embolden women in their daily lives. But on her own terms (as a single shareholder for now).
