Vanessa Noel is a luxury designer, hotelier, philanthropist, and founder of the Noel Shoe Museum. With a degree in Fine Arts and Architecture from Cornell University, she launched her namesake shoe brand with a vision to blend artful forms and function through sculptural silhouettes with coveted rare, luxurious materials. Her creativity moves fluidly across disciplines—from footwear to interiors, hospitality, fragrance, entertaining, fine jewelry and founding the Noel Shoe Museum (NSM).
A fixture in both New York, Round Hill in Jamaica and Nantucket, Noel’s creations and spaces reflect an enduring aesthetic of elegant glamour, sensuality, and refined restraint. She is also a passionate advocate for educational access. Using her shoe museum as a platform, she is supporting children in rural communities in Jamaica who cannot afford shoes to be able to attend school through sneaker donation initiatives. After decades of creative evolution, Noel remains a study in great design, elegance, purpose, and timeless impact.
About Vanessa Noel: Designer, Hotelier, Philanthropist
Vanessa, you’ve spent decades on Nantucket. Can you tell us what first drew you to the island and what keeps you returning year after year?
Vanessa Noel: Nantucket is woven into the fabric of who I am. My mother began coming here even before I was born, so the island has been part of my story from the very start. I grew up on Nantucket’s beaches, picnicking on the dunes and falling asleep to the sound of foghorns and ocean wind. The color of the hydrangeas isn’t just a shade it’s a feeling, a memory. As I built a life in New York, I came to realize how much I needed Nantucket’s rhythm to balance the city’s constant motion. There’s a quiet here that sharpens my senses, slows my breath, and unlocks my creativity in ways no place else can. I don’t return just to get away, I return to reconnect with myself, with nature, with a pace that reminds me what really matters in life.
Nantucket Roots: Life, Creativity, and Boutique Hotels
You opened a boutique and then hotels on the island. What made Nantucket the right place to expand your brand?
Vanessa Noel: I opened my first shoe salon in New York City in 1987 and soon saw how the city clears out to the beach communities in the summer months. I happily followed my customers to my magical island and opened my second boutique on Nantucket in the 1990’s. It was a decision led entirely by instinct. I didn’t run numbers or analyze the market. I simply knew that if I was going to spend my summers in a place I loved, I wanted my work to be part of the island.
The hotels came later, I actually bought the first property for my shoe store. The idea was so exciting to me, they were about more than hospitality—they were about creating an immersive experience of my brand. I was the first and only American designer to have hotels! This island allowed me to bring more of my aesthetic to life —to build not just a fashion brand, but a lifestyle brand rooted in beauty and timeless elegance.
Beyond being a retreat, what role does Nantucket play in your life and legacy now?
Vanessa Noel: Nantucket has evolved from being a personal sanctuary into something much deeper. I wanted to bring something exclusive and very special to this amazing community. Last summer, in 2024, I opened the Noel Shoe Museum on Nantucket with exceptional curated exhibitions. The exhibition opened to the public with free admission, so everyone could visit, enjoy and learn. It was such a success we extended it for an additional month last summer, and I was so excited to open a new exhibition again this summer! It’s a space where I can contribute meaningfully to the community, support the arts, and help shape the cultural conversation for the next generation. Nantucket is no longer just a retreat for me—it’s an integral part of my legacy.
Design Philosophy: Sculptural Shoes & Luxurious Materials
Many know your shoes for their sculptural lines and exquisite materials. What has stayed consistent in your design process across time?
Vanessa Noel: My style, my unwavering commitment to quality, and fit. Every shoe is designed and hand crafted to enhance a woman’s leg. A woman should wear the shoes, not the shoes wearing the woman. I don’t just decorate. I believe in the quiet power of correct balance and form combined with the most luxurious materials; I’ve always had a love affair with exotic skins such as alligator, stingray, python, and glorious hand loomed silk satins and rare vintage fabrics… they all tell a story. Today I still sketch every design by hand. I still build and create all my lasts and heels. That hands-on relationship with the work has never changed and never will. It is my passion.
Bridal Icons: How Vanessa Noel Became a Wedding Favorite
You are also very well known for your wedding shoes, can you tell me about that?
Vanessa Noel: Many people think I began with my bridal collection but that is not true. In fact, I was known for my evening shoes. Customers began coming to me and requesting shoes to be specially ordered for them in white. We were ordering so many bridal shoes that I decided to rent the small store next to mine that had become available to house a total bridal collection.
I wanted to offer the brides every style of shoe they could possibly want to wear on their wedding day. I had every heel height. Open toe sandals, sling backs boots even flip flops and cowboy boots in white satin. No one else was catering to the brides like I did. I even had brides flying in from across the world to find their perfect Vanessa Noel wedding shoes. I became the number one Luxury Bridal shoe designer. This title gave my father great pleasure when his friends asked what I was doing in NYC.
The Craft: Sketches, Italian Factories & Hand-Built Heels
You’re still fully involved in every step of the design process. What does that look like in your day-to-day?
Vanessa Noel: It’s immersive, it consumes me in a beautiful way. It is who I am! I sketch and am inspired every day. When I travel to the factories in Italy every day is a full day driving, sitting with the artisans, creating and designing new creations. Every heel must perfectly fit every new last. All the skins are inspected and personally chosen; the patterns need to be correct. It is a most exciting labor of love which still excites me even after 40 years of designing and manufacturing. I have great respect for the industry. To be able to bring your sketches alive and build incredibly beautiful shoes that fit is a gift, It’s an addiction, it’s in my blood.
Material Experimentation: Texture, Story, and Risk
You’ve worked with incredibly unique materials throughout your career. What draws you to material experimentation?
Vanessa Noel: Texture. Story. Risk. I’m endlessly fascinated by how a material can transform a design—or shift its entire emotional mood. I’ve worked with laser-cut leathers, exotic skins, vintage fabrics and trims. I love contrasting the natural with the architectural, stingray with satin, python with mesh. The material is never just decoration. It’s part of the soul of the design.
Clientele & Brand Ethos: Intimacy Over Mass Market
Your clientele is incredibly diverse — European royalty, Manhattan collectors, international artists. Do you think there’s a common thread among them?
Vanessa Noel: Style!! Confidence. A deep appreciation and understanding for self-beauty . The women who wear my shoes are not just impressed with logos or labels. They already know who they are. They value the best quality, fine design and craftsmanship. Also, they respect and trust me. I’m not cutting corners on quality and charging them more because I could. They’re global and know the best. They want to be an individual. My shoes have been sold across America in the best stores and in multiple countries in Europe and Russia. My label will always be a luxury brand, never commercial as long as I am still in control.
What’s Next
What are you working on right now that excites you most?
Vanessa Noel: Everything I’m working on excites me. The Noel Shoe Museum’s upcoming gala this October 23rd excites me. Designing new collections excites me. I am just about to launch my fine jewelry line in New York this December. Everything is handmade by the best private jeweler in NYC using precious metals and top-quality lab-grown diamonds. Each piece is an individual. It’s elegant, sexy, ethical, and new. I’ve designed jewelry for shoes for years and even used precious gems such as rubies and emeralds years ago. Creation is wonderful, it is my life.
Legacy & Impact
You’ve designed across so many categories—shoes, hotels, handbags, fragrance, and now jewelry. What unites all those forms for you?
Vanessa Noel: Sensory storytelling. Whether it’s a shoe, a scent, or a space, I’m creating an atmosphere—how something feels in the hand, how it makes someone feel, how it lives in memory. Shoes and jewelry empower. A hotel comforts. A fragrance identifies. The museum educates and preserves. Every product creates an experience. That’s the common thread.
You’ve spoken about how your career began with sheer determination and no shortcuts. Can you walk us through those early days—and how you got started manufacturing in Italy
Vanessa Noel: I’ve had a great love and fascination with shoes since I was a child. When I graduated from Cornell University I moved to NYC and was determined to become a shoe designer. I wrote to the Italian Trade Commission and requested a list of luxury women’s shoe factories in Northern Italy. They sent me 3,000 names and addresses. I handwrote notes to each one and when I received the responses, I chose a factory based on pure instinct. This was all before fax machines, the internet and mobile phones. I had a lot of determination and guts!
I flew to Milan with a paper map and blind faith. Then I rented my first car at the airport and drove alone to this tiny town I could barely find on the map, not even knowing how to pronounce the name, to meet with the owner and artisans. I was 27 years old, a woman in a male-dominated world, pitching my sketches in a foreign language that I could barely speak. They loved my designs and apparently liked me because one month later they contacted me and said YES to taking me on and producing my designs in their factory. This was a very coveted space to hold as I learned in the years that followed, because many designers were turned away. I will always be grateful that they saw something special in me and gave me the opportunity to create and design my dreams.
You’ve been called a “best-kept secret” in fashion. How do you feel about that label?
Vanessa Noel: I always smile at that. It’s the best-kept secret everyone seems to know. I’ve never chased the mass market. I’ve built something intimate, incredibly special, and not commercial. People come to shop—and to connect. Wearing my shoes is like being part of a private club. My customer list is a global “who’s who” that keep coming back—That kind of loyalty comes from being present, being personal and continually being the best in my field. I’m most proud of their loyalty.
Tell me about the Noel Shoe Museum you founded?
Vanessa Noel: The Noel Shoe Museum is the first shoe museum in the United States, based in New York City. It is my legacy project. The mission of the Noel Shoe Museum is to learn about the culture of man through the evolution of the shoe. This museum celebrates the creativity and imagination of footwear through curated exhibitions which showcase the best collaborations in fashion and art with a strong focus on design, designers, history and the manufacturing of footwear. It will honor all shoe designers and tell the story of people.
We’re also deeply committed to education and recently launched a Reimagining Education series for schoolchildren. We bring a small, curated exhibition from the permanent collection to different schools, which provides students with hands-on experiences, fostering creativity and critical thinking as they learn about the evolution of shoes and their societal significance. The museum’s permanent collection includes historical shoes from the 10th Century to the present. We also have an exciting Icon Collection, featuring shoes from inspiring individuals and their incredible stories told through their footwear including President George H. W. Bush, Olympian Usain Bolt, Shaquille O’Neal, and more. It’s incredible to see how excited the children are to see all the different shoes, and to learn through them!
We’re also really excited to be partnering with other museums across Italy, France and the UK for exhibitions beginning in 2027. We just launched our brand-new website, www.noelshoemuseum.org, where we’ll be posting more information on all the exciting things we have in store. The Noel Shoe Museum is such an exciting project, and I’m so proud to be building such an incredible institution!
Your career is a masterclass in self-made success. Looking back, especially as you prepare a retrospective of your work, what are you most proud of?
Vanessa Noel: That I had the will and tenacity to never gave up. Even when times were really tough. I’m proud that I swam with the industry sharks and never let them gobble me up. Also, I am incredibly proud that I was able to build a strong label and be sold on the same shelves as the luxury big corporate labels. I even turned down investors, to retain my freedom to protect my art, my inner voice and be able to continue to design my shoes the way I saw and felt them.
I am exceptionally proud of being the founder of the first shoe museum in America, and I was incredibly honored when multiple museums across Europe asked to prepare the retrospective of my own work.
I’ve been going through decades of my shoe library and sketches. At one point I said out loud “Oh my God. I just can’t believe I did all this.” It is humbling. A lifetime of work—built on gut instinct, ideas and dreams sketch by sketch, stitch by stitch. I’m so proud of the shoes and so proud of an incredible life I’ve designed, and still building. I’m just getting started!!!
