Since she entered royal life, Meghan Markle has worn Aquazzura more than any other shoe label — and now the brand’s creative director Edgardo Osorio thinks he has another perfect look for the Duchess of Sussex.
Osorio unveiled the Bowie boot — a versatile black suede, pointy-toe style with tassels at the back and a cone heel — as part of his new capsule collection with Claudia Schiffer. The supermodel and designer toasted the project, their second collaboration, at a cocktail party held Tuesday evening at Aquazzura’s recently-opened Milan flagship.
“It’s been an incredible honor and privilege to [have Meghan wear the shoes],” Osorio said. “It’s not something we planned or expected. She’s an amazing role model, a beautiful woman. I couldn’t be more happy. It’s a nice surprise.”
While Markle is a new inspiration for the designer, Osorio has also long admired Schiffer’s style.
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For the capsule, available now, the model dipped into her extensive archives from the ’80s and ’90s for inspiration. “I pulled them all out. I loved the slouchiness in boots in the ’80s. The ’90s was more about the buckle. I also love all the leopard and tiger prints. These bring back a lot of memories for me,” Schiffer said.
Her favorite look? The Debbie bootie, a shimmery silver style crafted in glittery leather and adorned with buckled straps. Other standouts include the knee-high Bowie boot in tiger and carmel leopard and Nena ballet flats in leopard or black with studded ankle straps.
The new capsule is just one of several projects Osorio is juggling at the moment. He continues to rapidly build his retail roster, and Aquazzura Osorio just opened his second store in New York’s Soho neighborhood.
“The U.S. is my biggest market. New York almost became two different cities. The clients we have downtown are different than the ones we have uptown,” the designer said. “I had the incredible opportunity to find something at the Mercer building, which is my favorite place in New York. The store is a little jewel box. It has its own personality, and looks completely different than the one [on Madison Avenue].”
Next up, Osorio will present his spring ’19 collection at Paris Fashion Week. For her part, Schiffer was off to Turin, Italy to work with her husband Matthew Vaughn on a new movie project.
While the model misses the buzz she felt from being a runway favorite, she’s satisfied to stay more behind the scenes these days. “I need to hand it off to the new generation,” Schiffer said.
