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. He is often credited with making the most expensive shoes in the world. In 2014 Weitzman paid a world record $9.48 million for the British Guiana 1c magenta stamp.

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 1971, 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.

Weitzman is known for providing one-of-a-kind, "million dollar" shoes to an Oscar nominee to wear at the Academy Awards, including a pair of platinum sandals adorned with 464 diamonds that actress Laura Harring wore to the 2002 ceremony. For the 2007 Oscars, 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.

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