Rihanna’s Footwear Designer Made The Most Popular Shoe In The World

Amina Muaddi, the designer behind Hailey Bieber and Katie Holmes’ favourite crystal sandals, is on a roll. Not only did her entire line sell out in just one day, she also recently became the exclusive footwear designer for Rihanna’s Fenty collection (casual) and was named Designer of the Year by Footwear News for 2019. But even after checking off all of those boxes, the half-Jordanian, half-Romanian designer is still tackling her goals left and right. Case in point: Her iconic sandals were just named the second hottest fashion product in the world, according to the Lyst Index — and the most popular shoe.

To help brands and shoppers better understand the current market, Lyst, a global fashion search engine, compiles data on the shopping behaviours of more than nine million consumers on a quarterly basis. “The formula behind The Lyst Index takes into account global Lyst and Google search data, conversion rates and sales, as well as brand and product social media mentions and engagement statistics worldwide over a three month period,” the report reads. 

For the most part, the results aren’t entirely surprising. Off-White, Gucci, and Balenciaga took the top three spots on Q4’s list of the hottest brands of 2019, a list that’s exactly the same —  despite Gucci and Balenciaga swapping second- and third-place spots — as it was for Q3. The top ten also includes Moncler, Versace, Fendi, Prada, Valentino, Saint Laurent, and Burberry, in that order. 

The second list featured on the Index, though, came as more of a surprise. 

First on the list, naturally, is Gucci’s GG logo belt, a favourite amongst Instagram models and fashion bloggers. Amina Muaddi’s Gilda glitter crystal sandals coming next, though, is a much bigger feat. Making their Lyst Index debut, the heels prompted an average of 60,500 monthly searches between October and December, while the brand overall saw a 73% rise in views, according to the Index. After the designer was named Rihanna’s footwear designer for Fenty, her namesake brand saw a 50% spike in searches on Lyst. Not bad for only having launched a year ago. 

Given that Fenty’s first collection of the new decade is set to arrive on the brand’s website tomorrow, we can only begin to imagine how much more popular Muaddi’s namesake brand will become Q1 of 2020. Stay tuned to find out.