Shoe Salon

DESIGNERCHAT ELLE AYOUBZADEH • ZVELLE

ELLE AYOUBZADEH, founder and creative director of Zvelle, isn’t your typical shoe designer. For starters, she isn’t formally trained and her label’s tagline, “Walk How You Want,” is unconventional in that it’s purposely nondirectional. Most designers want to dictate trends. Not AyoubZadeh. “We’re not prescribing a certain way of dressing,” AyoubZadeh says, who launched her Italian-made label in late 2015. “I want women to be free to do, dress and be however they choose. I don’t care to tell them to wear my latest shoe with my latest bag and match it with certain colors. That’s not my personal style, and not Zvelle’s either.”

The “Walk How You Want” premise is open to interpretation because, AyoubZadeh believes, if you ask 100 women a question about personal style, you’ll likely receive 100 different answers. “I think women are intelligent and independent enough to know how to style our shoes and handbags,” she says. “Walk How You Want is about inspiring women to be true to themselves.”

AyoubZadeh describes Zvelle’s overall aesthetic as classic with a globally inspired twist, one is that is derived from her rich nomadic past. “I’ve lived and breathed many cultures from around the world,” she says, noting her designs always feature something unexpected yet are all elegant. “But I don’t design products to sit in museums; I want them to be worn in everyday life,” she adds.

Along those lines, AyoubZadeh focuses on styles that stand the test of time, adding she’s evolved from purely dress styles to include casual chic silhouettes. An example is the Rayna ballet sneaker in striking gold, rose gold and royal blue metallic tones. Other signature elements include an upside-down heart (the number five in Farsi), and winged detailing inspired by Amelia Earhart’s plane. “I’m not gimmicky, nor am I a fan of attaching my logo to everything,” says AyoubZadeh, who previously worked in institutional finance and angel investing. It’s where she came across future customers—many of whom are like her. “I’m a busy woman who doesn’t have time to change shoes in the middle of the day,” she says. “Whatever I wear has to also work for cocktails, dinners and surprise encounters!”

Where do you look for design inspiration? Everywhere and nowhere in particular. I’m a curious person. I read a lot. I spend a lot of time outside of the fashion world interacting with professionals in different disciplines. All of this fuels me with inspiration, which I jot down in notebooks that I carry with me all the time.

Patrizia

Gabor Seychelles

COFFEE FLAVORS

Espresso yourself in creamy neutral shades.

food. Today, I might want French and tomorrow it’s Chinese. We’re not robots. We have moods that change, so there will always be heels. But I love that women now don’t feel they need height to look polished and elegant. You can achieve the same look with comfortable flats.

Why branch out into men’s? My husband, a very stylish entrepreneur, kept telling me he doesn’t have Zvelle shoes. So I made him a pair of loafers similar to our best-selling women’s style. It’s handcrafted, at a great price (SRP: $250) and is a chic, understated look—perfect for a man who doesn’t want to look like he tried too hard. Like all great entrepreneurs, he shared it on his social media and then all his colleagues wanted a pair. That’s how our men’s V loafer was born.

Who are some designers you admire?

Paul Smith is my favorite. He walks how he wants, and has been for over 50 years. I love that his brand doesn’t rush into the next cool thing. I also admire Anya Hindmarch. You don’t buy Anya Hindmarch for the latest trend; you buy it because it stands for something. I also have a lot of respect for Tory Burch as an entrepreneur, woman, designer and philanthropist.

What’s the best piece of design advice you’ve ever received? Don’t try to force everything into one design. It came from a key member of my team yelling at me, in the usual Italian manner, becauseI’m always trying to include everything. Sometimes, though, not having it all in one design makes the product stronger. I’m Persian, so I’m like an Italian at heart, speaking with my hands and getting passionate, so this advice stuck.

Any shoe trend you hope disappears?

Shoes that cost over $1,000 and then are sold at 50 percent off. Also, we don’t need diamonds on shoes. There are other ways to feel special—like giving back.

What do you love most about design-

ing? Bringing an idea to life, creating it and then seeing it on a stranger who is making it their own. I never tire of that buzz. I also love that every shoe I design helps give people employment.

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