These shoes were made for walking, from the streets of NYC to Manila
From Carrie Bradshaw and her Jimmy Choos to Cinderella and her glass slipper, we’re all familiar with the transformative power of the shoe.
“Shoes are the quickest way for women to achieve instant metamorphosis,” said Manolo Blahnik.
Indeed, “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world,” breathed Marilyn Monroe.
And that, in a nutshell, is the rationale behind Daily Schedule, a local shoe company that aims to change our mundane lockdown lives through the power of a killer sandal. Even if your Zoom mates can’t see your feet, like sexy underwear, the right pair of footwear can alter the way you perceive and carry yourself.
“We were constantly inspired by the women in New York City,” says Juliana Ocampo, who founded Daily Schedule along with sisters Betina and Selina Ocampo. “They were so confident — like our heads constantly turned every second — and we wanted to create shoes that sparked that confidence and had a lot of personality to them.”
Juliana is the youngest daughter of Ricco and Tina Ocampo, and grew up in a retail environment — literally. “As early as a baby I saw Sari-Sari but have very vague memories of it,” she says. “And then there was Anonymous, Mix and Celestina. Every single day as kids, we would just run around in retail stores that my parents had.”
She observed that every day, the look of the store would change. “Even in our homes, my parents are constantly creating. They never sit still. They're moving things around all the time. And with a space and products, they tell a story. There's always a new story.”
She says her parents really encouraged them to create, and to tell their own stories: “The fact that my mom was featured in Vogue when she started Celestina, it was like, wow, we can shoot for the stars! They kept telling us, like, don't be afraid to make something, to keep going, and so that is a big inspiration for us every day.”
The main thing Juliana learned from them was to create something with a purpose and a story behind it, so she and her sisters created Daily Schedule, “because we have crazy personalities, the three of us.”
Eldest sister Betina has her own eponymous fashion line, which she started in New York City and made into a hip label. “Betina got into Barneys, and she was blowing up in that sense,” Juliana says. “And then at the same time in 2016 Selina fell in love with food. So she went to culinary school and now she's started cooking. At the time I was still studying marketing, so my passion is totally marketing and when I graduated, I got my first job at Paper magazine in New York.”
Even if the sisters were busy with their main passions, they found time to collaborate, and began Daily Schedule five years ago in New York — which they consider their second home — offering “everyday loafers” to that city’s fashionable, peripatetic denizens.
But Juliana says they found more traction when they brought the brand home to the Philippines the following year, becoming known for their chic pointed mules made with materials like velvet. “Through the years, our mission kind of shifted from the New York woman, but kind of merging the Filipina and the New York woman. And so now we're Daily Schedule Philippines and we're rebranding it.”
With the support of her family, Daily Schedule has become Juliana’s baby, and they launch shoe collections quarterly. Juliana designed the latest line, “The New Schedule,” inspired by and named after the three most important women in her life: her mom, supermodel Tina Maristela-Ocampo, and her older sisters.
“With this collection I wanted to bring back the roots of why Daily Schedule started,” she explains. “So the way I designed the Tina shoe is very simple yet elegant — gray, blue and yellow — very staple colors but, like, bringing that classic chic at the same time. My sisters and I are always in awe of my mom. She was a really big model and so you never see her untouched. She's always presentable in any situation, and it's so admirable, and that's the kind of style that we designed for the Tina shoe.”
For the Betina slide: “She's so successful. In her own way she's the true designer of this family. Her attention to detail — like if you've seen her collection, you'll really see small details that are so personalized, and are intentionally there, like with her embroidery, and so in the design of the Betina shoe you can see the pattern of the checkers but also the tassels — very Betina. She's used those in her Betina shirts before.”
On the Selina slipper: “What's funny about Selina is, like, out of the sisters she's the shopaholic, but for shoes. She has an insane collection of shoes. What's funny is that we started Daily Schedule because we noticed that you can have a bunch of shoes but you sometimes find yourself always wearing that one shoe, whether it's a white sneaker or Havaianas — you always have a favorite. And so we wanted to create a brand that kind of switched up your schedule, like brought a pop of color and brought life into your outfits — that you can wear all-black with a statement on your feet.”
For the Selina she crisscrossed lines together, almost like a weave, to come up with a sandal that was the perfect slip-on for its namesake in the kitchen. “Like something she'll throw on every day, and it will match with anything. She doesn't have to think about what outfit she's going to wear.”
Most interestingly, Juliana created a fourth style that embodied her own bright, vivacious personality. “I wanted to create as my shoe very simple but bright colors, with the red and the pink. For me, growing up with these incredible women, I always felt like I’m the bunso, the baby girl, so I'm being compared to them and wow, they’re so beautiful. I kind of fought with internal beauty standards with them, but I grew into myself and I may not think I’m the most beautiful, but I am the most confident. And so I wanted something you would wear that made you feel so confident that you walk into a room and you can capture everyone's attention; all eyes are on you because you feel good in them.”
Prices for “The New Schedule” are very reasonable, with the Juliana and Selina going for P1,900, while the Tina and Betina are P2,200 a pair. “The price is so important to us,” Juliana says. “Shoes can be very expensive and (sometimes) you can only afford one pair, but we wanted you not to feel bad with getting all these different pairs that fit your different moods. Most women, when they go to our store, they walk out with maybe five pairs and feel great about the price.”
While Juliana declares that her collection is “literally for the most confident woman in the world,” she acknowledges that the lockdown has had a chilling effect on many, even on herself for a while until Daily Schedule got her creative juices going again. “We want for whoever isn't feeling confident at the time to buy something for themselves that makes them feel fantastic.”
As Bette Midler once said, “I firmly believe that with the right footwear, one can rule the world.”
It’s that redemptive, life-changing power of the shoe that we can all believe in.
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Daily Schedule has a store in San Antonio Plaza Arcade, Forbes Park, Makati City. You can order the shoes online at Instagram: @dailyschedule.ph, and Zalora, Shopee and Lazada.
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Follow the author on Instagram @theresejamoragarceau and Facebook (Therese Jamora-Garceau).
