Stuart Weitzman goes futuristic with Milan flagship

Do you like the store?” Stuart Weitzman asks us when we first meet him.

Boy, do we.

On Sept. 19, at the height of Milan Fashion Week, American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman officially unveiled his flagship boutique on Milan’s famous luxury shopping street Via Sant’Andrea, taking a prominent spot among fashion heavyweights like Chanel, Fendi and Armani.

The 3,000-square-foot store, which resembles a spaceship poised for liftoff, was designed by “starchitect” Zaha Hadid — she of the MAXXI-National Museum of the 21st-Century Arts in Rome and the Olympic Aquatics Centre in London.

The six-window storefront bears all of Hadid’s futuristic trademarks while managing to be completely new and breathtaking at the same time: organic, curvilinear forms made from fiberglass dipped in rose gold, metallic monochromes brushed to a high sheen, and modular shelving that is well-integrated with customer seating areas.

Weitzman said he chose Hadid to shape his new retail concept because he loves her work. “I didn’t want someone who designed shoe stores because I wanted something original, and people who design stores tend to do what they’ve always done.”

Known for using innovative materials like lucite and 24-karat gold in his shoe designs, Weitzman wanted his flagship to be similarly groundbreaking.

“It absolutely has to function,” he instructed Hadid. “The shoes have to be visible, they have to be accessible. Women have to be able to pick them up. I like our customers to live within our shoes, and she created these designs where the shoes are all around you when you’re sitting down.”

We personally experienced that functionality the day before, when our small group, which included Steven Tan and Michelle So of SM Premier Malls, which brought the Stuart Weitzman brand to the Philippines, and Cheryl Tiu of Lifestyle Asia, checked out the store, which was on soft opening.

Rows of Weitzman’s bestseller, the iconic 5050 boot, were within easy reach; there was space to place your bag next to you on the banquette; and each product was dramatically lit to full effect, making us drool over the elegant footwear and python clutches on display.

Hadid will design five more stores for Stuart Weitzman, with boutiques in Hong Kong, Rome and New York planned for 2014. While the Philippine store in SM Aura Premier doesn’t sport the new design, it’s exciting to see the direction the parent company is going in.

I ask Mr. Weitzman if he plans to launch a Zaha Hadid-designed architectural line of shoes in the future and he laughs:

“Not yet.”

When style icon meets shoe icon

The launch party was held in a garden behind the store, where a giant topiary of a stiletto pump dominated the décor, and mats were thoughtfully placed on the grass so that the high heels of the 200 or so guests wouldn’t sink into the turf.

Heightened buzz and a sudden rush of people indicated that a VIP had arrived. It was supermodel Kate Moss, who walked past a gallery of black-and-white photographs of herself and into the garden. Clad in a black suit and Stuart Weitzman’s Sinful T-strap sandals, Moss was all smiles as she wound her way, path forged by security, through the sea of guests to Mr. Weitzman’s side.

Since being hired last year, this is the third time Moss has appeared in Stuart Weitzman’s ad campaigns, and tonight we see her in the brand video “Made for Walking,” which shows Kate running late in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce. After telling the driver to stop in her little-girl voice, Moss — to the tune of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ — proceeds to strut her way through the streets of London in a variety of 5050 boots.

After the video premieres, Kate, who watched herself while straddling a chair, claps her hands together and cheers.

“She’s great,” Weitzman says. “She’s iconic.”

When I ask if the style icon was worth the investment, he replies, “Kate wanted to do this. It wasn’t something that broke our bank. It was reasonable, and she likes us, she likes our shoes, she seems to like the company, and her photographer does our work — Mario Testino — so it was easy to get together.”

Other It girls, like Olivia Palermo, the model and socialite whose exploits were featured on the reality show The City, attend the event also shod in Stuart Weitzman’s other styles, but it’s clear that this is the moment of the 5050 boot, which is marking it’s 20th anniversary this year.

I congratulate Mr. Weitzman on the ever-popular 5050 and he reveals, “That paid for the store.” (Laughs)

“It’s always there. Done in new colors, new ways, but it’s one iconic item out of our 300-design collection. The fashion of the season somehow always finds its way into the 5050.”

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Stuart Weitzman shoes are available at the Stuart Weitzman boutique in SM Aura Premier Mall in Taguig City.

Watch the “Made for Walking” video at http://madeforwalking.stuartweitzman.com/.