Well Heeled

Dancer turned shoe designer Daniella Shevel created shoes where comfort isn't an afterthought.

By Lily Dougherty

The first thing you notice when you land on Daniella Shevel’s website isn’t just the shoes. It’s her. “Hello there, I am Daniella, founder, designer and CEO.” Daniella introduces herself and transparently tells you her story—her frustrations, her vision, her inspiration. With the exclusivity of the designer industry and it being built on mystique and distance, this is a quietly radical act. And, it’s entirely on brand for Daniella Shevel. Daniella contradicts industry norms—whether it be the notion that beauty is pain, the idea that sustainability and luxury can’t go hand in hand, or that luxury requires distance.

At 28, Daniella found herself stuck in doing what looked good on the outside—a stable and well-paying job—but inside she was miserable. She couldn’t get shoes off her mind. She’d grown up dancing, and that background had given her something unique most people in the industry simply do not have. “As a dancer, you have a hyper awareness as far as movement through space and your body,” she says. She understands balance, weight distribution, the way a heel shifts your center of gravity. And she was frustrated. Her feet hurt constantly working long hours in corporate fashion. She was tired of carrying backup flats for the subway. She wanted beautiful shoes that she could actually wear all day. She was convinced they were possible despite what the designer industry told her. 

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Daniella moved to California at 17 when her family immigrated to the States. She attended USC, earned a business degree, and spent seven years on the business development and digital marketing teams at Shopbop, ShopStyle, and Rag & Bone. From the outside, it looked like success. On the inside, she was yearning for something more authentic.

Daniella Shevel

So she left. In search of that authenticity and fulfillment and with her mother by her side, she went to Italy and cold-called Italian factories. Waiting for that one to say ‘yes’ and take a chance on her; searching for the one that would make it all worth it. In the face of rejection, with no formal design background, she finally got it.

That resilience is baked into her business and you can feel it in the shoes. She doesn’t just design shoes, she personally fit tests each pair and considers them from all angles. “I have a pair on right now,” she tells me. “It's not just walking up and down. It's important that I go through the full day of activity. I'm sitting at my desk in these heels. How is it feeling with my feet against the floor? Am I feeling grounded?” Every heel pitch is personally evaluated before it goes into production. Every insole cushion, every toe box is considered in relation to how the foot actually sits and moves. This careful culmination of practicality and elegance results in a shoe that belongs on the runway but also feels like it was made for real life.

Aspen Booties

That tension between beauty and pain is something Daniella takes personally. The fashion world is not particularly interested in comfort. She saw it most starkly earlier this year at Paris Fashion Week. Attending this was a milestone she describes as “a whole other level.” The experience was remarkable but also clarifying. “When you're in that fashion world, comfort is not really forefront,” she says. And yet, when models walked the runway in her shoes, the reaction was immediate. “We got so much feedback from the models—they're so used to walking down the runway in uncomfortable crazy shoes, and they really appreciated it. And they stood out.” For Daniella, those comments weren’t just gratifying but rather confirmation.

At home, her business reflects a different set of priorities as well. She produces in small batches, sells direct to consumer, and by cutting out the middleman, keeps her prices lower than other designer brands. She has recently added a cobbler service to extend the life of every pair. Her business is crafted around intentionality and none of this becomes an afterthought. “We want those styles on repeat, to be our signature and classics,” she says, “You're investing in a great pair of shoes for years to come.” Buy less, buy better, and you can wear them forever. 

Daniella relates first hand to her customer—the woman in her thirties who has spent years compromising by squeezing into narrow toe boxes, suffering through events, and retiring beautiful shoes after one season. But once women find Daniella Shevel, something clicks. “Women who are 35 saying, oh my god, finally a brand is doing this—covering these pain points but still feeling very designer and sexy and cute, not frumpy.” She designs with the female anatomy specifically in mind: wider toe boxes that accommodate bunions, construction that accounts for how feet change throughout pregnancy and hormonal shifts. It’s luxury that actually listens.

Salma

For Santa Barbara women, it’s a natural fit. Daniella made her share of day trips up the coast during her years at USC, understands the lifestyle, and sees her brand fitting with that California ease that still wants to look and feel put-together. She points to her raffia styles and the Nola booties as pieces built for  California warmth and this kind of woman: breathable, unique, and comfortable for an afternoon out. “There's that customer who wants to be expressive, wants something unique,” she says. “Once they feel it, they're onto their seventh or eighth pair.”

That’s the Daniella Shevel promise in a sentence: once you try them, you feel the magic of her designs. It sounds simple. But behind her dream is a South African immigrant who has knocked on every door, taken every no, and travelled the world to craft her vision. Because she was a dancer, she understands better than anyone that how something feels in the body matters just as much as how it looks from the outside.