Designer Giuseppe Zanotti Makes Shoes for Beyonce, Wants to Tackle the Food World Next
Photography by Danilo Scarpati for Yahoo Style
Giuseppe Zanotti is a passionate man. When he speaks, his hands move about his body, drawing things in the air, pretend cooking. He will adopt other characters, he will briefly speak into Italian when he needs to punctuate his emotions. Being around him, you are immediately drawn into his energy and his charm, you’re aware that you are in the presence of a highly creative being.
Zanotti was born in the village of San Mauro Pascoli in Italy. “The form of art in my village was shoes,” he explains, sitting on the balcony at his Milan showroom, “other cities have chandeliers, or furniture, but where I grew up it was shoes; and I thought they were all horrible, and maybe I could do something about it.” He started working with local craftsmen, making a name for himself and freelancing for such storied houses as Dior, Roberto Cavalli, and Valentino. “I never studied design, I never went to school at all. I’m wild!,” Zanotti says laughing, “but I love fashion, I have a lot of things inside me, I’ve seen a lot of movies, listened to a lot of albums, I like art, I know the different flowers and fruits. I like to rationalize things.”
“I’m a strange animal,” he says.
That may be, but he’s still the leader of a hugely successful company whose shoes are worn by literally every iconic woman in pop culture, from Beyoncé, to Lady Gaga, to Miley Cyrus, to Taylor Swift, to Nicki Minaj. “Working with celebrities, you need to understand what they want, and give it to them before they know they need it,” he says, “sometimes it’s complicated, but it’s important to work with them.” He also sees the distinction between celebrities on and off duty, “Beyoncé loves a flat, but onstage she wants a heel, she wants to be sexy and powerful.”
His attraction to “what’s real,” may be the thing that separates him the most from other designers. “My muse is to be real,” he says, “Sure, sometimes I like the perfection of La Scala in Milan, or the red carpet, but I don’t want my shoes to be just for magazine shoots, store windows, and museums. I want to see women wearing my shoes.” Similarly, his idea of luxury, is all about attitude, and being true to one’s desires and needs, “a simple sandwich can be luxury, if that’s what you want.”
Photography by Danilo Scarpati for Yahoo Style
Before embarking on a design career, Zanotti was a musician and a DJ. “The shoes saved me, maybe from a lot of things,” he says getting a little serious, “I had a lot of friends, who did drugs, and they were creative too, but I knew I wanted to do something good for myself and my life.” His musical past still informs the way he approaches design. “The collection is my playlist, my greatest hits of all time,” he says, “there are things from the past and things from the future and my goal is to get all the girls in the world to dance. If a song is good, everyone in the world listens to it,” he concludes, “I try to make a good song.”
Other than music, Zanotti is very passionate about food, even hinting that he may want to head in that direction next – “I make shoes, clothing, jewels, and I want more! I want to do food! I make a spaghetti sauce with vegetables, and it’s better than everyone else’s!” – and cooking allusions pepper our conversation. At different points, he describes both his brand and the design process through pasta. “I don’t need a recipe for spaghetti sauce, my hands just know how to do it automatically,” he responds when asked if he has a muse. Describing the design process, he once again goes to spaghetti “If I invite you for dinner and then order food, it’s horrible! But if I make the pasta in front of you, and I open a bottle of wine I love from a region that I am familiar with, the experience is different. When I design I need to come up with the stories”
And it’s obvious that women like these stories. “Last week, Janet Jackson and her husband were here, and she was like a kid in a candy store!,” Zanotti remembers, as he mimics the way the singer was grabbing shoes from the shelves like little doves, “ her husband said, “come on Janet, not so many…” but she loved them all!” As do we.
More from Yahoo Style:
Meet Hannah Weiland, the Designer Behind Cult Brand Shrimps
Paula Cademartori, the Secret Bag Designer All Street Style Stars Turn To
The Fashion World Is Head Over Heels for Vetements, the Elusive French Brand
