Is this man the new Manolo?

"I have never seen raspberries so big — they are beyoooootiful!” says Edgardo Osorio, holding a juicy fat fruit up to the light. We’re in the Hix restaurant at Brown’s Hotel, London, and I’m quickly learning that ebullience is Osorio’s default setting. The Colombian designer of the footwear label Aquazzura is passionate about art, fashion, travel, women — and shoes. Boy, does he know about shoes. Or, more specifically, what a woman wants from a pair of shoes.

It is a talent he has in common with those other great sexy-shoe designers Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin. If Manolo dressed the Sex and the City girl and Louboutin (along with Jimmy Choo) the red-carpet glamazons of the 1990s, then Aquazzura is the next generation’s go-to guy: the man the women of today call when they need a fabulous heel (or flat). From Gwyneth to Beyoncé to Saudi princesses, everyone wants to be an Aquazzura girl now. They even have their own hashtag (#aquazzuragirls).

The brand has enjoyed supersonic success since Osorio, 29, co-founded it four years ago with his business partner, Ricardo d’Almeida Figueiredo. The business, which has no outside investors, boasts 190 stockists globally and growth has been so rapid that Osorio has tripled his staff in the past year. The brand might not yet be a household name, but you will probably know his designs. Those pointed, lace-up flats you bought from Topshop, Office or Zara over the summer? All inspired by Osorio’s Belgravia. He says he is “flattered” when high-street stores rip him off. And anyway, he knows he does it better. Net-a-porter can’t keep the Christy flats in stock.

So who is the Aquazzura woman? Who isn’t, more like. His shoes turn women rabid. He rattles off the anecdotes: the daughter, mother and grandmother he recently met who were all wearing the same style of Aquazzuras; the twins who smuggle their new Aquazzuras into their houses at night so their husbands don’t know, paying part cash, part card. Then there is his real-life girl gang: the jewellery designer Sabine Getty, the wife of Joseph Getty; the Saudi princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz; Eugenie Niarchos; and Poppy Delevingne, with whom he is collaborating on a capsule collection (last year it was Olivia Palermo). They all swear by the power of his heels to party the night away. In short, nothing comes between a woman and her Aquazzuras.

Osorio’s most famous shoe is the Sexy Thing. Not quite a boot, not quite a shoe, it’s made of “super-light cashmere suede” (his signature fabrication), comes in eight colours (with new ones added every season), has a 4in heel and retails for £415. These details are significant. You can wear a 4in heel all night, and while £415 isn’t cheap, it’s not bad for a designer shoe. The result? Happy ladies and tills ringing.

From left: Hollywood courts in dark orchid, £440, Matilde shoes in royal blue, £440, Candela shoes in lipstick, £475, and Sexy Thing shoes in yellow, £415, Aquazzura

“For £500, at other brands, you get a dumb pump. With me, I give you fashion,” says Osorio with a flourish. “Even with my richest friends, if a pair of shoes costs £1,000, then they will buy one pair. If they are £500,” he says shrewdly, “then they will buy two.” He learns and listens to his customers — girl talk is not idle gossip to Osorio, it is crucial to his design. “It’s not that hard,” he says. “You just need to pay attention.” He’s open to everything: “There is nothing I won’t make — I mean, apart from Crocs.”

Born in Cartagena, “a sensory overload, where people wear 300 colours at once”, Osorio grew up between Barranquilla, “when it was not the safest time to be in Colombia”, and Miami, where he has family. Ambitious from the get-go, he began interning at the age of 14 and graduated at 16, a year early, from his American high school (hence the mongrel accent: American English, tinged with Colombian Spanish and a dash of Italian flamboyance). He immediately moved to London to attend the London College of Fashion, before quitting at 19 to work for Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. Four years later, he became the head of footwear at Roberto Cavalli.

Osorio describes himself as “very Latin, very family orientated”. His parents are divorced, but he remains close to his mother and brother, who also now live in Florence; his sister, who is studying in Boston; and his father, “a complete workaholic” who still lives in Colombia. “My father works in construction. I never thought that he would accept my role. But he took it so well. He told me that I can be whatever I want to be, I just have to be the best.”

Osorio has taken this advice to heart and Aquazzura, a name that reminds him of the sun and the sea, is fuelled by his tireless energy. He is in a relationship, but shoes come first, and he works seven days a week: “I don’t get tired. Sometimes people will ask my assistants if I am on drugs. They will be, like, ‘No, no!’ I am just naturally energetic. This is a job where if you don’t love it, then there is no point doing it. It’s not just a part of your life, it is your life.”

Italy’s fashion capital may be Milan, but Osorio, an Italophile, lives and works in Florence; his shoes are made in Tuscany. “I am very proud of my roots, but I feel like I have lived in Florence in another life.” His home, HQ and first store (the second is the newly opened London store) are all within the Palazzo Corsini — a palace he once dreamt of living in. Persuading the Contessa Livia Branca di Romanico to let him operate Aquazzura from within the palazzo’s rarefied walls is a coup indicative of his drive.

Shoes are only the start, of course. Osorio admires people “who build a world, such as Valentino or Ralph Lauren”. He is considering launching bags next year, and in a few years’ time, a line for men: “The Aquazzura girl has an Aquazzura man!” For now, he’s busy ensuring that his shoes are the only shoes you wear. “From Coachella to an art opening, to the beach, then the ski slope,” he rattles off a rarefied social scene, “women are so mobile and they need shoes for every situation.” Do you have to be global and glamorous to be an Aquazzura girl, like the girls he is pictured with here? “Not at all. My brand is so approachable. I love it when I see comments on Instagram saying, ‘I’m saving up for a pair of your shoes.’ You don’t need to be rich to be an Aquazzura girl,” he waits a beat. “You just have to be fun.”

38 Albemarle Street, London W1; aquazzura.com

Photograph Chris Floyd. Styling Flossie Saunders. Hair and make-up: Helen Asher at Era Management using Nars Cosmetics and Bumble & Bumble. Photographer’s assistant: Berit von Enoch. Stylist’s assistant: Krissy Turner. Hair and make-up assistant: Liana Centurion