Rita Ora can now add shoe designer to her resume. The chart-topping singer recently collaborated with Italian footwear designer Giuseppe Zanotti on a collection of stilettos, boots and slides, which debuted yesterday at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, Calif. FN spoke with the duo at the launch of their new line, discussing everything from the inspiration behind the collection to the first time each of them wore heels.

When we asked Ora what makes a sexy shoe, the British pop star — who was wearing a dress by Dundas with transparent Bonnie chain gold chrome heel sandals from the capsule — said that it’s all about the attitude, before adding “gold is my favorite…Cuban links…It was really all based sort of on the sexiness of my jewelry collection.”

“The silhouettes are so kind of delicate but still hard, and I felt like my contribution to this collab was bringing that kind of hard energy, [this] sexiness and feeling powerful.”

The first time she wore heels? “Oh my mom’s shoes when I was about six,” she revealed, to which Zanotti quipped: “same for me.” The 28-year-old pop star added that her mother really inspired her love of glamour and fashion.

“I really fell in love with my mother’s elegance. She’s very glamorous; she always cared about her fashion, always cared about looking good, smelling good. She only wears Chanel No. 5 — she’s a very extravagant lady.”

“Growing up, I started to be like my mom. I wanted to be like my mom, so that’s really how I started loving fashion.”

Check out more from the Rita Ora for Giuseppe Zanotti collection.

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