LeVian $2 Million Shoes at The Wedding Ring Shop!

May 1, 2009 - PRLog -- The exquisite Le Vian® tanzanite and diamond bejeweled Stuart Weitzman evening sandal was unveiled at the New York Public Library in January 2007 as the winner in the “Fashion Accessories” category in the Tanzanite Foundation’s first ever Celebration of Life Jewelry Design Awards.  

The outstanding design is a result of a partnership between Eddie LeVian, award winning fine jewelry designer and CEO of the storied 500 year old Le Vian® Jewelry, and Stuart Weitzman, shoe designer and founder of Stuart Weitzman, Inc.  The $2 million dollar creation is studded with over 185-carats of tanzanites and 28-carats of diamonds. The evening sandal competed with entries from over twenty countries and is believed to be the first ever shoe design embellished with tanzanite.

The collaboration by the two designers, each a leader in their fields with a deep passion for designing the perfect accessory for their collectors, took place in Le Vian’s® New York Headquarters.  

Eddie LeVian utilized a design concept similar to his straight line, channel set diamond tennis bracelet for the front strap of the shoe.  A concept from the Le Vian Couture® Collection offered inspiration for the anklet which features an intricate, handcrafted 18k white gold basket setting micro-pavéd with diamonds.  The delicate ankle bracelets contain museum quality, oval, cushion-cut and tear drop shaped tanzanites ranging from 6 to 16 carats!  Each ankle bracelet features a spectacular 16-carat tear drop tanzanite that dangles decadently from the front of the ankle creating a spectacular red carpet look.

Stuart Weitzman used the frame of his bestselling “Dolce Vita” shoe as the base for the sexy stiletto evening sandal design.  A clear strap provides a discreet backdrop for the stunning tanzanite, diamond and 18k white gold.  An elasticized band for the foot strap is made of silvery glittering leather.  

About Tanzanite

Tanzanite was discovered in Tanzania in 1967.  It is found in only one place in the world, near the town of Arusha, deep in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Due to its unique crystal structure, tanzanite radiates three distinct colors of burgundy, violet and blue in a rare phenomenon known in the gem world as trichroism.   This same exotic phenomenon causes each gem to have a varying mix of colors which becomes a challenge to match.

About LeVian®

Le Vian® is the internationally recognized jewelry brand with a 500 year tradition.  Le Vian® is that rarity, a company that reveres the old – and pursues the new.  Its designs replicate the ancient arts of hand carving, beading and goldsmithing – worked into avante garde modern creations. Old gemstones brighten hip, one-of-a-kind pieces, new gemstones update the classics. Today, Le Vian® is considered one of the foremost jewelry designers in the world, known for the quality of its gems, the uniqueness of its designs and its reverence for meticulously matched, gem intensive hidden settings.  Whether it’s selecting tanzanites that showcase the stone’s singular ability to change into different blue tones, or to give brown diamonds a chocolate™ flavor, or to cut stones into impossible shapes – Le Vian® does it.

Le Vian’s head designer, Eddie LeVian, has been at the helm of Le Vian’s cutting edge brand for the last thirty years winning awards and accolades around the world.   His fiercely loyal cadre of collectors number ½ million today and count billionaires, celebrities and members of royalty amongst them.   But Eddie’s mission has been to create the world’s most beautiful jewelry and to make it available and affordable to all.   In this quest, he is arguably the most prolific jewelry designer of our time, with over 100,000 copyrights to jewelry designs, registered with the US Office of Patents and Trademarks.   Today, Le Vian® is creating 2,000 original new designs a month.

Known throughout the years for its work with royalty, the company’s designs have been spotted in Hollywood over the last several years, gracing the lobes, fingers and wrists of the Hollywood elite from the hot actors of today to the legends of the silver screen to the young trendsetters of tomorrow in sports, television and music.

Its famed collections which include LeVian®, Le Vian Couture® featuring “Eddie LeVian”® Signature Collection and Red Carpet Collection, Le Vian Time®, Arusha Exotics by Le Vian®, Deco Estate Collection™, Carlo Viani® and the Le Vian® Chocolatier®  collections of Chocolate Diamonds™ brand natural fancy color brown diamond designs.  The Le Vian® collections are sold in the finest department stores and jewelry stores in the nation.

About Stuart Weitzman

Whisper "Stuart Weitzman" to any discerning shoe-lover, and you'll inspire a reverie. Sumptuous pumps . . . glittering mules . . . studded stilettos — Weitzman creations are the stuff of dreams for women around the world.

The man behind the mystique is Stuart Weitzman — founder of Stuart Weitzman Inc. Combining an eye for beauty with the technical expertise of a master craftsman; he creates more than 300 new styles of shoes and handbags a year. Each is a monument to fashion and innovation.

Stuart Weitzman's trademark use of unique materials (name another shoemaker who has worked with cork, vinyl, Lucite, wallpaper, and 24-karat gold!) and his legendary attention to detail have garnered him and his company a global following. His shoes are now sold in 45 countries — everywhere from France to the West Indies to Japan. Shoppers in the U.S. forage for his footwear in major department stores and fine retail shops, as well as in his free-standing boutiques, located in several major cities across the country. With plans to open additional signature stores in the U.S., Weitzman is also expanding his retail footprint abroad. The flagship European Stuart Weitzman boutique is now open for business in Zurich.

About the Tanzanite Foundation

The Tanzanite Foundation is a non-profit, industry-supported organization devoted to celebrating the uniqueness and rarity of tanzanite whilst safeguarding and promoting the tanzanite industry on behalf of all ethically operating and socially conscious participants.  It is dedicated to investment in meaningful and sustainable upliftment projects developed in harmony with Maasai communities in Tanzania.  Projects it has supported to date include the supply of fresh drinking water, a primary and secondary school, a medi-clinic, community center and environmental rehabilitation initiatives.  

The Tanzanite Foundation’s Celebration of Life Jewelry Design Awards embrace the age-old Maasai custom of bestowing vibrant blue-violet fabrics and jewelry on new mothers to honor the gift of new life, a custom that inspired the Be Born To Tanzanite™ campaign positioning tanzanite as the gift to be given on the birth of a child.

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When The Wedding Ring Shop opened in 1987, its mission was to help people celebrate life's greatest moments by providing legendary service and fine jewelry of the highest standards.

We specialize in engagement, wedding, and special occasion jewelry.