Want to get dressed like a star? Celebrity stylist Anita Patrickson is ready to give you A-list treatment.
The South African stylist, who dresses Julianne Hough, Eiza Gonzalez, Chanel Iman, Justin Hartley and more, is taking her love of shoes to the next level by launching her own footwear line, Amanu, and opening a storefront to go with it right in the heart of West Hollywood. And it’s not just any shoe store: It specializes in made-to-order sandals to fit your feet perfectly, just like the ones you would get if you traveled to Capri, Italy.
“It’s truly hard to find a great flat sandal, but these are now in the world,” Patrickson tells PEOPLE during a demonstration of how the made-to-measure process works. The goal, she says, is to truly bring the Italian experience to the west coast. She even hired a Capri-based cobbler to come and train her team to make sandals the Italian way.
So, how does it work? You go into the store — the design of which is inspired by her African background (shown above) — get your foot measured, get them fit to your feet (even if your feet are different sizes!), watch them get made and walk out with a pair of shoes.
“There’s so much excess at the moment,” says Patrickson. “When you’re watching a shoe being made, you realize what goes into it and how special it could be. It’s not like something you would get from a factory.”
“I love the fact that everything that we’re doing uses a timeless age-old technique that we have tweaked to make our own — a bit chicer, a bit more fashionable,” Patrickson adds. “But there are no chemicals, there are no crazy glues and there is no big pollution. This matters now: I think people are much more conscious of what they’re purchasing.”
Plus, as a stylist, she believes a beautiful sandal can be worn with everything, from a “cocktail dress to a ballgown, sandals are a perfect option.”
The flats range from $160 to $225, and the heels range from $245 to $275. She offers over a dozen styles at the moment, some of which are shown above. Learn more — and even make an appointment to visit the store — at amanustudio.com.
She’s not the only celebrity stylist obsessed with accessories, either.
Micaela Erlanger, who works with Meryl Streep and Lupita Nyong’o, released her book How to Accessorize: A Perfect Finish to Every Outfit earlier this season, and Elizabeth Stewart, who dresses Gal Gadot and Viola Davis, announced a partnership with PLV and will debut her own empowerment-themed shoe collection this fall.
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