‘Mama always says there’s an awful lot you can tell about a person by they shoes. Where they going, where they been.’
Forrest Gump said it on a park bench. Stuart Weitzman lived it for more than five decades in the designer footwear industry. As former CEO and Creative Director of the Stuart Weitzman brand, the fashion mogul referred to his designs as “his children… like a part of his DNA.”
Weitzman’s vibrant perspective translated into the intergenerational audience of fashion enthusiasts, undergraduates and alumni alike, who gathered at the Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall for the speaker event coordinated by Visions and Voices on November 1.
Although Stuart Weitzman the brand now belongs to Tapestry — formerly known as Coach, and now a parent company to Stuart Weitzman, Kate Spade New York and Coach New York — Stuart Weitzman the man still very much has his heart and soul (and sole) in shoemaking at 82 years old.
Promptly at 5:00 p.m., Weitzman took the podium at the center of the room, making shoe contact before eye contact with those in the front row. He sported a salmon-toned button down, white ankle-length trousers and contrary to his iconic high-heeled designs, a pair of gray and white On Cloud tennis shoes.
“I think there are more people here than at Trump’s inauguration,” Weitzman said.
The tension of meeting an idol seemed to dissipate from the room, and the eager crowd shared laughter with Weitzman like old friends. Immediately, he delved into the first of his truisms — dubbed ‘Stu-isms’ by his employees — gesturing to a four-letter word on the screen to his left, written in a font as bold and black as his signature glasses frames.
RISK.
“If you think as an artist or a creator, [risk] is your best friend,” Weitzman said. “You measure them, but you take them.”
As a University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business alumni, Weitzman became acquainted with the idea of risk early on in his career. He often asked himself, ‘What am I going to do to get noticed?’
It was when he realized that while no two dresses on the red carpet were the same, but six or seven pairs of shoes were identical, that the idea for custom-made celebrity shoes was born.
Weitzman’s first major celebrity moment was in 1983, when Aretha Franklin thanked him for her shoes during her acceptance speech for “Favorite Soul Album” at the American Music Awards. According to Weitzman, thirteen million women had tuned in for that speech, and only a month passed before he was known as the “shoemaker of the stars.”
If there’s any other confirmation needed that risk pays off, take a look at UPenn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
IMAGINATION.
Weitzman’s background in business also aided him in consulting qualified designers for his advertising campaigns. Many recognize his “A Little Obsessed With Shoes” ads at first glance, which took a vastly simplified design approach compared to other footwear companies.
Rather than spending copious amounts of money on high fashion models, this advertising campaign took ordinary sights and incorporated high heels into their structure.
The first one featured a jack o’ lantern with shoes for eyes and a mouth for the fall season, but they eventually became as personable as the one showcasing his Dalmatian with heels as reimagined spots etched onto the fur.
His dog received so much traction that thousands of mothers began asking for copies of the advertisement to give to their daughters. Weitzman reaped the benefit of being those young women’s first exposure into a luxury shoe brand, even if they couldn’t purchase them yet.
“Do not lose your imagination, it’s what separates you from your competitors,” Weitzman said. “That’s why I titled this event ‘An Entrepreneur’s Journey on the Road Less Traveled.’ Take that road. If you don’t, you’re just going to be another page.”
INSPIRATION.
Weitzman’s gladiator sandal took inspiration from the Tevas he saw clients wear. Some of his luxe ankle boot styles give a Doc Marten feel. His quintessential 5050 over-the-knee boot pays homage to Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman,” and has made its way from the street to the stage at Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour.
“You don’t want to copy, but there are lots of places to be inspired,” Weitzman said.
He urged attendees to pay attention to what catches their eye in films, works of art and wider pop culture. Listing well-known figures anywhere from Marilyn Monroe to Michelangelo, Weitzman finds muses for his artistry just about anywhere.
YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE.
Weitzman mimicked a knife to the chest as he recounted the time he was approached at a wedding with, ‘My mother wears your shoes.’
It had been over 15 years of the business, and he wanted to prioritize getting the next generation of women in his shoes. He strategically leaned into the realm of television to get his brand out on the town in addition to the red carpet.
“If I could get Jennifer Aniston in my shoes, I could get all the women 20 to 30 years old,” Weitzman said.
Aniston ended up purchasing a pair of his Alex Swamp Espadrilles from a Weitzman store, making them the shoe of the summer. In other star-studded news, Weitzman made Megan Markle’s shoes for the “Suits” series.
Collaboration, however, extended beyond celebrities and into architecture. He worked with Iraqi-British architect, Zaha Hadid, to build a custom retail store in Milan. This look of this very store is what allowed him to expand into the Asian market, gaining the coveted spot next to the escalator in the IFC Mall of Hong Kong.
BE A PART OF THE COMMUNITY.
Before and during his retirement, Weitzman believed in philanthropy. One of his favorite traditions was to have celebrities design a singular pump that reflected their personality and use them in his annual celebrity shoe auction.
He has also partnered with models such as Gigi Hadid, to collaborate on a mule design with proceeds designated to a specific cause.
In her case, Stuart spearheaded their design of the “EYELOVE” collection, which both honored her Palestinian identity with the use of the “evil eye” and their wishes to build schools in Ghana, Guatemala and Laos with the education charity Pencils of Promise.
Weitzman’s love for community was especially evident in the opportunity for three students to model his shoes, his decision to stay overtime to answer questions and his central seat at a roundtable dinner with a select group of students after the event.
At the heart of every truism shared was his passion for creative expression. From parading around in his mother’s pumps at age five to proposing to his wife with custom heels, Stuart Weitzman’s career was sustained by out-of-the-shoe-box ideas.
