Stuart Weitzman, founder of the shoe company by the same name, visited Vanderbilt on Sept. 10 to speak about innovation and entrepreneurship in the fashion industry. The discussion — titled “An Entrepreneurial Journey on the Road Less Traveled” — took place at the Wond’ry to an audience of around 40 with a luncheon the following day.
Weitzman is a shoe designer known for brand popularity with celebrities — including Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Cara Delivgne, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle among others. Many of his shoes are known for using unique materials, such as cork, lucite and wallpaper. Weitzman stepped down from his role as creative director to serve as chairman of the company in 2017. He began his talk by offering his “best advice” to the students in the room, encouraging them to gain occupational experience after graduation.
“Work somewhere else first. That’s your graduate school,” Weitzman said. “You will see, learn and become accustomed to things in the world that you will not get in these classrooms.”
Sophomore Alexandra Biddle said she took the advice to heart.
“When I do eventually get to that dream career or maybe start my own business, I’m going to have the opportunity to be the best in my business because I’ve seen the best in the business,” Biddle said.
Weitzman shared a set of what he called “truisms” for students to remember, encouraging students to take risks, use their imaginations, learn to problem solve and be part of their community.
“You have the opportunity as an entrepreneurial-thinking individual to take the risk and always weigh the costs if it doesn’t work,” Weitzman said. “You have to be able to afford it, but when it works, it multiplies its value manyfold.”
Weitzman shared a story from early in his career when he created a pair of shoes for Aretha Franklin for the Grammys, who won that night and thanked him.
“I had no idea she was going to win the Grammy, but that doesn’t matter. I was just getting started,” Weitzman said. “I got lucky because I was playing the game, and it fell my way.”
Weitzman then discussed the importance of imagination, citing the first Stuart Weitzman campaign to win a Clio Award in 2002. The ad featured a dog with imprints of heels instead of Dalmatian spots. Weitzman said the company has had many successful ad campaigns since.
“It [a campaign] builds on itself, and it’s an investment in the future,” Weitzman said. “[The 2002 campaign] really was a great accomplishment for us because it was different. Nobody had thought of it.”
Weitzman also emphasized the importance of being vigilant in finding inspiration. Inspired by Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, Weitzman sought to emulate their styles for modern audiences while prioritizing function. He noted the popularity of leggings in women’s fashion when designing Taylor Swift’s custom garter belt thigh-highs, which she wore on tour.
“I thought, ‘wow, if I can take the legging and turn it into a boot, maybe I can create a new piece of clothing.’ And I did it for Taylor Swift,” Weitzman said.
Weitzman shared the importance of working with others, especially when collaborating with other businesses to reach celebrities. He also focused on the importance of solving a need as his inspiration for creating designs. He said he noticed that custom shoes were often left unused by celebrities for red carpet events with last-minute outfit changes. This led to the creation of Swarovski crystal shoes, which could be dyed as needed.
“That solved the big problem. We never lost another gal on the red carpet,” Weitzman said. “She picked the shoe, and we had a shoe for her if she had to change.”
The Swarovski shoes were modeled at the event, along with Cara Delevigne’s scarlet heels from the 2023 Oscars and the “Million Dollar Sandals,” which were inlaid with 464 Kwiat diamonds.
“If you live your life in an imaginative way — on the road less traveled — it’ll be easy to run your business that way because it’ll be part of your nature,” Weitzman said. “You’ll just think that way, and then people who work for you will think like you do eventually, and you’ll have a team who are doing things that others aren’t.”
In an interview with The Hustler, Weitzman spoke about his use of unconventional materials when innovating designs on his own.
“Women love shoes. They’re more open to footwear being unusual than clothing,” Weitzman said. “I looked around for materials that worked, because of course the function has to be there, and I love the neutrality of cork, for example.”
The luncheon on Sept. 11 allowed students to interact personally with Weitzman and get advice for their own careers.
“He took the time to read our resumes and actually speak with us one-by-one about what we specifically wanted to do, and he gave us advice on how we could best go about that,” Biddle said.
Junior Leilani Rucker expressed appreciation for the individual attention and the interest Weitzman took in their lives.
“It was like a reverse Q&A, where he was interviewing us, which I thought was unique to any other luncheon I’ve gone to with other famous designers,” Rucker said in an email to The Hustler.
