Scarcely a week goes by without Los Gatos women’s footwear designer Flor de Maria Rivera’s creations for her namesake company making a splash on one of the world’s biggest stages.
Last September, Nicki Minaj was photographed performing in Pittsburg, Penn., on her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, sporting the “Florci” translucent pink PVC pumps with crystal flourishes.
Rita Ora selected the Black Berta platform heels to complete her outfit for Disney’s post-Emmys celebration that month.
Mariah Carey played the Dolby Theater in Las Vegas, also wearing crystal embellished high heels, those in a silver hue.
Eva Longoria, Ciara and Carrie Underwood have all worn her shoes out on multiple occasions. And Rivera has been busy in recent weeks with New York and Paris Fashion Week duties.
But what’s the secret to the continued success of the Los Gatos-based fashion concern?
“Everyone wants to be seen in something that’s beautiful,” Rivera said, also adding, “I wanted to create a brand that was comfortable.”
When the Los Gatan newspaper spoke with Rivera in September, it was her first in a series of media interviews.
This was just a few months after meeting up with Latin music icon Shakira, June 30 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Shakira, who previously wore the model of shoe which Rivera showed up to the Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour that day in, was warm with the South Bay resident.
Rivera told the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer she was the inspiration for a pair of shoes she was designing for her winter collection.
Flor de Maria is taking a similar approach with other stars, such as Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter.
Rivera said she was working on a shoe that evokes the power of Swift, who just released her latest album, “Showgirl,” this week.
And it was while driving in the Bay Area that Rivera’s concept for the Carpenter-embodying shoe came to her.
“I had to pull over and I started sketching in my car,” she said, recalling how she raced back to Los Gatos to solidify the idea for the butter-yellow nappa leather platform. “I came home with that idea and sketched it again.”
Flor de Maria completed the concept and finalized the design.
And just a few weeks ago, Rivera heard back from the superstar’s team that the pair had officially landed in the “Man’s Best Friend” singer’s closet.
“I admire what she’s been able to do,” Rivera said, when asked what that means to her. “She inspired those shoes, and to now think that she has them in her personal closet is truly magical.”
Rivera says she just follows her own intuition.
“I am my own customer,” she said. “I put my heart and soul in it.”
Two Flor de Maria shoes recently even made it onto the Sex and the City reboot.
This was extremely gratifying for Rivera, whose own life had been shaped in part by the characters on the HBO show.
“One of the many reasons I moved to New York was I was obsessed with Sex and the City; I was obsessed with Carrie Bradshaw,” she said, remembering back to how she started a fashion blog in 2010 and moved to the Big Apple in 2011. (“I’m the Latina Carrie Bradshaw,” she jokes.)
The famously shoe-obsessed show—which was revived as And Just Like That…—used Flor de Maria’s CICI (black and red zebra pony hair pumps) and STEPHANIE (yellow ostrich-feathered silk sandal) models.
“Both pairs that they showed were showstopper shoes,” Rivera said. “For me it’s an incredible feeling to see so many celebrities wear the brand.”
*Updated to more accurately reflect the shoe-creation process related in the interview.
