edgardo osorio
CREATOR OF AQUAZZURA
The Interview: Edgardo Osorio.
In just five short years IT shoe brand Aquazzura has become a firm favourite on our Pinterest boards and been worn by every fashionista imaginable. In this interview Edgardo Osorio, creator of the must-have footwear brand, tells EW why he thinks women love his shoes, his love of pineapples and why he’s not worried about copycats.
The S/S17 collection is inspired by an eccentric jungle.
I took inspiration from the tribes of Kenya, Papua New Guinea and the Amazon and the collection is filled with lots of different exotic colours, flowers and embroidery.
The name Aquazzura is actually two words in Italian.
Aqua and zurra means blue water. Blue is actually my favourite colour and I was in Capri at the time that I came up with the name. I wanted a brand with an Italian name that reminded me of summer, holidays and something that had a dolce vita aspect to it. We make everything in Italy in Tuscany and I wanted a name to reflect that.
We became global so quickly.
It felt like it was from one day to the next. Luckily we had the support of the magazines but social media also played a big role in creating a buzz about the brand on an international level. Fashion girls were wearing our shoes and posting on social media platforms and people then started buying the shoes and they were selling out.
Every woman I can possibly think of has worn my shoes.
From Jennifer Lawrence to Julianne Moore, Naomi Campbell to Claudia Schiffer, you name it. It’s so amazing to see all these beautiful and incredible women who have bought the shoes and love wearing them.
I think women love my shoes for the comfort factor.
There’s a thought process to making my shoes comfortable. It’s not only about making beautiful shoes, it’s also about making sure they fit well and that a woman can walk, dance and live in them. The designs are feminine but fun and playful at the same time.
I collect pineapples.
The golden pineapple logo that you see underneath my shoes came from my love for pineapples. Pineapples mean wealth and good fortune and I love that the wearer has a lucky charm on the bottom of their foot everyday.
When you have something good, everyone wants to copy it.
I’m not worried about other designers or the high street copying my styles as they are creating a different kind of product that is mass-produced and uses cheap materials, They might emulate my styles but they will never be the same. If you are a luxury client, you will know the quality of my shoes and how they feel. On the plus side, it’s amazing to see how influential my shoes are that people want to copy them. I take it as a compliment.
My biggest achievement is the growth of the brand in such short time.
In just five years we are now stocked in more than 60 countries and have more than 10 stores worldwide. We’ve created something from nothing.
My motto in life is:
do what you love and believe in your dreams. You can achieve whatever you want if you dream big enough and work hard enough. n