According to award-winning shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, a career should be more than just a way to make money — it should be a passion. But, college students don’t need to have it all figured out just yet.
On Monday, Feb. 3, Weitzman visited Smith College to meet students and offer his career guidance. A Wharton business student turned pioneering fashion designer, Weitzman has designed for actors, musicians and celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Taylor Swift, Princess Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama and Beyoncé. Before his presentation, hosted by the Lazarus Center for Career Development, The Sophian sat down with Weitzman to hear about his entry into design, the early days of his career and his guidance for those still unsure about their futures following graduation.
His biggest piece of advice: “If you find something that feels like a hobby, you will never work. It’s not work if you love it. And you almost can’t quit.”
While he was finishing his business degree at the University of Pennsylvania, holding a job offer from Goldman Sachs, Weitzman’s artistic talent caught the eye of a college friend while painting a piece of background scenery for the university’s comedy club, Mask & Wig. The friend asked Weitzman if he would be interested in sketching shoe designs for his father’s company, and — despite having never drawn shoe designs before — Weitzman said yes.
The company owner was impressed enough to offer him 20 dollars per sketch. With tuition costing less than $2,000 a year, 20 dollars per illustration — a batch that took less than an hour to draw — was a golden financial opportunity. He raked in more than two years’ worth of tuition in a matter of months, quickly realizing there was money in shoes — and decided to postpone his entrance to Wall Street.
“What struck me […] I was walking down the street, and I saw in the window, four colors of what looked like this shoe,” Weitzman recalled. “It had the name of the company I sold my sketches to. He made it — and there it was on 5th Avenue, the most important street in Manhattan.”
From then on, his career in shoemaking was decided.
Over the past year, Weitzman has been on the road speaking at an array of colleges and universities, from Vanderbilt to Bryn Mawr. He was invited to Smith by Rochelle “Shelly” Lazarus ’68 and immediately took her up on the offer. “My company, my whole life, is based around women. My company had 73 managers […] and 71 were women,” he said. “I have two daughters. My brother has two daughters. So it’s been my life.”
Weitzman has made sure to prioritize liberal arts colleges on his lecture tour, finding them much more beneficial for entering an artistic field than large research universities. He has never hired a PhD student in marketing or business from a major university before; rather, he believes in the power of an open mind, which as he suggests, a liberal arts education fosters. He said, “You study art history, you study fashion, you’re into humanities, you get people. And if you’re gonna make something for people, it’s good to know what type of people they are so you can design for them.”
When speaking to the Smith community, he emphasized a few main pillars of success in the fashion industry: risk, imagination and inspiration.
“Risk just looks like a four-letter word,” Weitzman said. “But — it is really your friend.”
Weitzman offered examples of many chances he took over the years, in design, marketing and expanding the scope of his company. In the end, however, he said that risk-taking is always worth it.
One aspect of the industry that Weitzman lauds is its historic commitment to charitable action. He discussed the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and its roots in the American fashion industry, which — having been founded in 1985 by Elizabeth Taylor — has raised funds for HIV/AIDS research through galas, fashion events and auctions. Weitzman’s company continues to gift shoes to QVC Fashion Night which are sold for charity, raising four to six million dollars a night every year. The ability to give back has been the reigning highlight of Weitzman’s entire career in fashion.
“Just be good and charitable and nice and kind — you can’t have more success,” said Weitzman.
Be First to Comment