Giuseppe Zanotti celebrates the 20th anniversary of his brand

Giuseppe Zanotti celebrates 20th anniversary

A sketch from the “Jewel” capsule collection.

Italian shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti celebrates his 20th anniversary in the business with four capsule collections that will be released throughout the year.

The designer has another reason to celebrate as he welcomed a significant new investor, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, who acquired a 30 percent stake in Giuseppe Zanotti Design.

Looking back at the past 20 years the designer remembers with nostalgia the beginnings : “(about its first trip in NYC) I started in the Plaza Hotel, where I had a room for FFANY,” he said. “At the time, [the market] was very black, formal, rubber — it was a minimal style. No Jimmy Choo, no [Christian] Louboutin. But I started with stilettos that were superglam, superfeminine and sexy — and the business was a flop. For the first two or three seasons, it was a tragedy.”

Giuseppe Zanotti
Photo by John Aquino

It wasn’t always easy and he had also made a few compromises : “I was not so happy to design sneakers,” he said. “But somebody needs to wear them, because you need to feel more young, more contemporary, more cool. So, why not? I put all my elegant, formal, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop and punk into a pair of sexy sneakers. Women and men love to touch new product that doesn’t exist. So the question is always, ‘What’s next?’”

“This is my anniversary,” said Zanotti of the capsule collections. “No fireworks. No party. No Champagne…but maybe some red wine.

The first anniversary capsule collection will be released today exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman with an in-store event that will give customers the possibility to pre-purchase the items from the collection. Entitled ‘Jewel’ the collection is inspired by past designs of the brand and it is an all-gold collection. It will be available in June 2014 in Zanotti’s boutiques and selected stores.For the today event the designer has created limited-edition sketches and will also make a personal appearance.

The ‘Jewel’ collection will be followed by the “Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Black Stilettos” and “Disco” collections that will be launched in September, November and February 2015, respectively.

If you are in NYC, meet Giuseppe Zanotti at Bergdorf Goodman to celebrate his 20th Anniversary with an exclusive capsule and pre-fall collection today, April 10 from 3-5pm.