Daniela Uribe: Luxury for All

Daniela Uribe stands out as a designer of lavish and decedent shoes who seamlessly blends a focus on beauty, glamour and grace with comfort and inclusivity. Drawing inspiration from the ardent energy of Latin culture Uribe’s striking, lavish yet refined designs have captivated the fashion world.

I was lucky enough to ask her a few questions about her career, her latest collection and her experiences navigating the world of fashion.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your background and how you found your way into the fashion world?

I am from Bogota, Colombia. I always loved fashion and when I graduated High School in United States I decided to move to London where I graduate from the BA Hons in Footwear Design and Development from Cordwainers London College of Fashion. It was during my foundation course at London College of Fashion that I fell in love with shoes. I gained industry experience Designing Handbags at DVF in New York, Shoes at Paul Andrew in New York and then interning at Jimmy Choo in London. However, I always wanted to design for myself but before I ventured out on my own, I worked in buying at Ross Stores in NYC to learn more about the business side of things and a buyer’s mind. Finally, I saw the gap in the market that my shoes could fill. I wanted to create truly comfortable designer shoes made in Italy and available in all sizing. So, I left my 9-5 job in the city and decided to follow my dream.

Who/what would you cite as the main inspirations for your work?

I am truly inspired by people’s energy; I am inspired by the things around us and how we see them and also in the energy that people portray when they are happy and confident. My shoes I always say are more than just shoes, I want them to be a token of inspiration this is why each shoe name has a unique meaning of self-worth and self-improvement and the reason I make them all the way to size 45 Italian for anyone to wear. Additionally, I donate to multiple charities with every pair sold.

Is there any particular subject matter that is currently inspiring your work?

I am very bold and over the top person myself, and I think my designs reflect that. I know the classic cleaner looking fashion is trending at the moment but personally I am inspired right now by unique shapes, shine, anything that stands out of the ordinary. I think standing out and shining our light to the world is beautiful and that’s what my designs reflect at the moment.

The theme of New Wave’s next issue is performance, I wondered if you could touch on what performance means to you?

Performance to me is the feeling of giving our best to everything we do. It Also means being in balance with ourselves and in touch with our inner power to perform our best in everything we do. My shoes actually reflect both, they are prominent designs that incorporate customized comfort to achieve optimal performance in style.

The fashion world is notoriously hard to break into, what would you say the most significant challenges you’ve had to overcome to reach the stage you’re at now/What do you find most challenging about working in the fashion world?

I believe the first thing you have to overcome is the idea that it will be too hard to break into the fashion world. When you come in with that mentality it will block you completely. I am not going to say it is easy, but I think mentality is everything. As an emerging brand I think one of the hardest things was to have a factory or a supplier believe in my project and believe It could compete with already established designers. However, if you are confident and you very clearly understand what makes you different from those established brands people will listen to you. Another very difficult thing for me was to get buyers to take a chance on my product. When you are an emerging brand is a big risk for a buyer to buy into your product so usually, they tend to say they will wait and see the development of the brand. However, it affects the ability of the designer to actually keep developing without the right number of orders therefore you have to be very smart in your budget when starting.

We loved your recent show, could you touch on the story behind this collection of work?

My SS24 collection is named “YOU GLOW” and it speaks to being able to see the light and the potential we must glow without fear, to believe in our goals, in our unique styles, in our personalities, in what makes us, us and show that to the world. The shoes for this season reflect a glow in all their elements, from metallic holographic leathers to crystal embellishments and metallic touches it all glows and makes you glow

To finish the interview, is there anything exciting coming in the future you could let us know about? And what are your plans for the near future?

We have just launched in Rubaiyat Saudi Arabia which is very exciting. We do have a lot of more exciting things coming for next season as we keep expanding the brand to other markets. Additionally, our signature heel has become truly iconic so we also just launched it in a lower heel height, and we will be developing new styles with it which I think will become a total success.