Celebrities Who Love Rene Caovilla Sexy Wraparound Heels [Photos]

René Caovilla is a brand in luxury footwear that goes all the way back to 1928, about a century ago. It was not called René Caovilla at the time but that was the year Edoardo Caovilla established a high-end shoe business. Since then the label has become a mainstay in the luxury market creating women’s footwear of all types, most-known for its serpent-like design accents. The names of celebrity who have won the shoes — Sharon Stone, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Bella Hadid and more — is practically as long as the company’s time in the business.

It was in the 1950s that René Caovilla began collaborating on his father’s business, eventually taking it over and and pushing it to more fashion-forward territory (he is still the president of the company while his son, a younger Edoardo Cavilla is the creative director.) Later came collaborations with designers like Valentino Garavani (which began in 1975) as well as Christian Dior (starting in 1980) and Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel. And of course, there is the signature design: the Cleo.

Named for Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, the so-called “snake shoe,” was first designed by Rene Caovilla in 1969 inspired by a bangle from first century BC Rome. He saw it in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and set about trying to figure out how to incorporate the serpentine design into a shoe. The first prototype incorporated a metal coil that he extracted from a clock. But by 1973 he had created a version that was put to market. In 1975, the same shoe was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for its uniqueness and just last year the company feted 50 years of the design.

The Cleo has seen many iterations since that first introduction: encrusted with jewels, in tall and super tall heights and more. The design has been used as a blueprint to develop boots, has often been knocked off, and within the company has even spawned other other iconic styles. The Margot is similar to the Cleo but its coil snakes around the heel as well as the leg. That silhouette was introduced in 2021.

Here, we revisit some of the celebrities who have sported the Cleo and Margot sandals over the years, with their iconic snake-like designs.