Edgardo Osorio conceived “shoes so that woman can walk, dance, and enjoy themselves!” Far from the cliché of making a woman suffer while perched atop a mile-high heel, this artisan tried to make the woman more beautiful instead. And beauty cannot exist without comfort. Edgardo Osorio took his first steps into the world of shoemaking alongside the most prestigious Italian manufacturers, such as Salvatore Ferragamo or more recently Roberto Cavalli. He developed a special relationship with shoes at a young age, as well as with femininity and elegance, thanks to his mother who was an avid fan of high heels. Edgardo Osorio was also inspired by the writings of Truman Capote – a distinguished man who was always surrounded by glamorous women of the 60s: “swans”, as the writer liked to qualify them. Edgardo Osorio wanted to create a shoe for “swans of today”. Another urban legend might also explain the inspiration behind these “Sexy Thing”s: a lover of dancing, Edgardo Osorio would often notice uncomfortable women removing their shoes before dancing at weddings or other celebrations. And that was all it took: Edgardo would invent a new shoe as comfortable as it was sexy, a shoe that would be fashionable throughout the seasons and with trans-generational charisma. When Edgardo Osorio launched Aquazzura in 2011, it was a return to the basics of elegance. As he tells it, “I went into that department store, and there wasn’t anything there that I really loved. All the shoes were too complicated, too crazy, too ridiculous, too extreme. The platforms were so high, the shoes were so ugly, covered with crystals and feathers and stupidities. I just thought ‘maybe someone wants a magnificently simple, sexy shoe that they can really walk in.’” Mixing his Latin-American sensibilities with a refined European aesthetic, Edgardo Osorio gave the world an object that is today considered to be the most comfortable, if not most sexy, shoe.
“For me it’s not about constructing sculptures, but making women beautiful.” Edgardo Osorio is certainly no Roger Vivier, but he still didn’t completely ignore the structure of the body when designing his shoe. In fact, construction plays a major role in comfort: with the weight equally spread out across the arch and the heel, the “Sexy Thing”s are able to strike a balance. One open end, a 4.5 cm heel, a padded arch, and a pretty satin bow on the back: this pump is the result of a perfect equation between modern design and traditional handiwork that is impeccably executed. The element of comfort comes from the “cashmere suede”, an almost weightless custom-made suede lining that literally espouses the shape of the foot before definitively adopting it after just a few wears. After their launch in 2011, the “Sexy Thing”s became iconic thanks to the indefectible support of patrons with an undeniable cool-factor such as Giovanna Battaglia, often photographed wearing the shoe in a variety of colors. Because yes, the cherry on top of the “Sexy Thing”s is that they were imagined in a range of dynamic or classic colors, each of which remains preciously refined.
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