Stuart Weitzman

Stuart A. Weitzman (born in 1941) is an American designer, entrepreneur and founder of the eponymous international, high-end shoe company, Stuart Weitzman. In 2014 Weitzman paid a world record $9.5 million for the British Guiana 1c magenta stamp.

Career

Stuart Weitzman's trademark use of unique materials (e.g., cork, vinyl, lucite, wallpaper, and 24-karat gold) and his attention to detail garnered him and his company a global following. His shoes are sold in over 70 countries.

In the late 1950s, Weitzman's father, Seymour Weitzman, started a shoe factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts, called "Seymour Shoes" (also sold under the label: "Mr. Seymour"). Stuart began designing shoes for his father's business in the early 1960s, when he was in his 20s.

Weitzman graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1958 and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. When Seymour died in 1965, Stuart took over the business with his older brother Warren. They sold the business to a company in Spain in 1972, but Stuart continued to design shoes for the company. In 1994, he bought back the business, but he continues to manufacture his shoe designs in Spain.

Since 2002, Weitzman has provided one-of-a-kind, "million dollar" shoes to an Oscar nominee to wear at the Oscars. For the 2007 Oscar ceremony, shoes were designed for and provided to Diablo Cody, who subsequently declined to wear them, stating that she was not aware of nor interested in the publicity attendant with wearing the shoes. The most famous Weitzman's shoes loved by celebrities are called "Nudist" and they are still in production.

Personal life

The British Guiana 1c magenta stamp for which Weitzman paid $9.5 million in 2014.

He is married to Jane Gershon.

On 17 June 2014 Weitzman, who had collected stamps as a child, anonymously purchased the "world's most famous stamp", the British Guiana 1c magenta at a Sotheby's auction in New York for $9,480,000, including buyer's premium, the highest price ever paid for a postage stamp. Weitzman has since identified himself as the purchaser and has lent the stamp to the National Postal Museum for exhibition. In June 2015, Weitzman also identified himself as the current owner of the unique plate block of four 1918 U.S. 24-cent Inverted Jennies, widely regarded as the world's most celebrated philatelic printing error.

References

• Company website
• "Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative speaker series presents President of Stuart Weitzman & Co.," 4/18/05
• "Bear Stearns Tries on Shoes Its Merchant Banking arm is buying a stake in high-end shoemaker Stuart Weitzman Holdings, in another foray into retail," 6/29/05
• "US: Stuart Weitzman steps-up its technology infrastructure," 5/17/06
• Cody Refuses to Wear Weitzman's Shoes to the Oscars, 2/25/08

External links

• Stuart Weitzman at the Fashion Model Directory
• Photo of Selena Gomez in Weitzman heels