You’re known for creating store windows for Stuart Weitzman shoes that were more art than merchandise. Where did that begin?
In Chicago. We opened at 900 North Michigan in 1999, during the Cows on Parade festival. An artist put Swarovsky crystals on our cow and then created a whole window around that cow, even painting cows on some of the shoes.
And you began doing these amazing art creations of shoes in all your windows?
Nearly 90 percent of the store windows I’ve seen are just merchandise. To me, retailing is a creative endeavor and I wanted to do things other people didn’t do.
Did the windows attract store traffic?
We think so. Tim Fortuna, who was our last visual guy, and I used to love standing on Madison Avenue and listening to the comments.
People got the joke?
Most of them. Invariably, of course, someone would come in and say, “I’d love to see that paper shoe in a 7.” But it had brought her into the store.
You’ve accumulated a lot of these artist-designed shoes in your new book, “Art & Sole.”
Yes, the book comprises about 150 different art shoes by different artists that we’ve used over the years.
How did the collection evolve?
We used to have a branding campaign called “The Art of Stuart Weitzman,” photographing Stuart’s shoes with artists’ sculptures. I traveled around with a young Israeli photographer named Tali Katzurin to find sculptured pieces to use in the ads. I got to know artists, who eventually were asked to make fantasy shoes for our windows.
Is your book about all the art shoes you’ve featured in your window?
Yes, of more than a thousand that we actually used. They’re made of everything – ceramics, glass, twigs, feathers, paper, little metal washers and springs. And I think it’s the shapes and little bits of whimsy that make them so memorable.
Several reviews of your book have cited Lady Gaga. She has certainly brought attention to outrageous footwear.
I don’t think she could wear our shoes. The important thing to remember is they’re not footwear, they’re art.
How did you and Stuart meet?
We were living in the same apartment building in Boston. He was in his family’s shoe manufacturing business. I was managing a local bookstore.
And now you’re back in the book world.
Life can be funny – and unpredictable.