Complete with their own “joined at the hip” hashtag (#GiuseppexJennifer), Italian shoe maven Giuseppe Zanotti has aligned with music royalty Jennifer Lopez to create Giuseppe for Jennifer Lopez capsule collection launching in January.

No stranger to his luxury footwear designs (she wore his chunky high-heeled “Pyramid” sandal for the cover of her Dance Again album in 2012), Jennifer Lopez offered facets of her personal style (think pink snakeskin and Swarovski crystal pop) with the signature design mix of Giuseppe Zanotti, who has created iconic footwear for over twenty years.

With a range of commitments from a sell-out Vegas show and a hit NBC drama to fashion collaborations with Kohl’s and a beauty campaign for L’Oréal, this fashion-forward star was ready to embrace a high-end collaboration. “The collection Giuseppe and I have created is everything you would expect from both of us: bad-ass high heels with shapes that are fierce and of course, have some sparkle!”

Shoe oxymorons like “sexy refined” and “rock and roll innocent” are derigueur for a venerated designer like Zanotti, and this latest collection is the perfect showcase for such pairings. Embracing a color palette of soft pastels, cool grays and warm beiges, it includes everything from crystal encrusted open-toe booties and embellished wedge sneakers to strappy gladiators in snakeskin-print leather. For Zanotti, melding such palpable style with iconic design codes resulted in nothing less than a perfect balance between sophistication and high glam.

“I’ve always loved how Jennifer wears my shoes and admired her innate sense of style. More than a muse, she was a great design partner and this collection represents a strong, sensual, sophisticated woman—just like her.”

 > Written by Kim Wadsworth

Photography: Heather Sommerfield