DUBAI: Birthday tributes from friends and family poured in this week for celebrity-loved footwear designer Amina Muaddi, who celebrated her 38th birthday. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle The shoemaker, who is of Jordanian and Romanian descent but grew up in Italy, appeared to celebrate her birthday with an intimate boat ride. She shared a picture of what seemed to be a mangrove forest with water and grass, walking down an aisle to board a boat. “BDAY,” she captioned the post on her Instagram story. The subsequent posts were reshared heartfelt messages and posts from friends and family who left the birthday girl warm wishes for her special day on their Instagram stories. Giorgia Tordini, the creative director and co-founder of Italian fashion label The Attico, shared a picture of both of them and wrote: “HB my forever bestie.” In the second picture, she expressed how much she missed not being with Muaddi on her birthday. Venice-born and Paris-based DJ Fiona Zanetti wrote a touching message for Muaddi: “Happy birthday my love. Words can’t express how much I cherish your beautiful soul and our friendship. You are everything. Going through pictures made me super emotional to relive all the beautiful memories we share. Can’t wait for hundreds more. Here’s a photomathon from six years ago, baby us. I love you so much.” US model and socialite Lori Harvey took to Instagram to share pictures. “Happy birthday to my favorite girl. Been stuck like glue since day one,” Harvey said. Muaddi has been occupied with celebrating the launch of her new summer-inspired BRITO capsule collection, featuring six varieties of the BRITO slipper in muted-to-neon colorways. The designer hosted a launch event in Milan in May that was attended by her loyal A-list fans, including French model and actress Tina Kunakey, who has Moroccan heritage; Italian singer and actress Elodie; and Tordini, among many others. For the event, the designer wore a bright orange latex dress featuring a wrap-around skirt that tied at her waist. She paired it with matching orange BRITO heels, which are created from a single block of plexiglass carved into the designer’s signature flared heel. Besides orange, the handcrafted square-toed heels, made in Italy, also come in hues of neon pink, electric green, bright blue, black and transparent.