Chinese actress Yang Mi, the latest global brand ambassador for Stuart Weitzman, filled the four-story Plaza 66 with screaming fans on Wednesday, as she made a glamorous appearance celebrating the New York-based footwear brand’s newest store at the luxury shopping mall.
“This is an opportunity to reunite with the SW family,” said Yang. “I still remember when we first collaborated in 2019, we worked together on helping more women define their own style.”
The Plaza 66 opening dovetails with Stuart Weitzman’s 40th anniversary celebration, dubbed “40 Years of Stretch” — and in a happy coincidence, Yang was also born in 1986.
A year after being acquired by footwear company Caleres, Stuart Weitzman is driving its next stage of growth in China with an iconic brand ambassador, a revamped store concept, a product strategy that leans into its iconic stretch boots, easy sneakers and, coming soon next year, handbags.
Its Plaza 66 store, which neighbors Versace, the multibrand retailer B1ock, and Onitsuka Tiger’s Nippon Made specialty shop, was formerly occupied by Lanvin.
Conceived by the architecture firm Gensler, the store’s herringbone flooring, lacquered and mirrored walls, books and art, and a wall display that deconstructs the brand’s “Made in Spain” footwear encourage shoppers to try on its signature over-the-knee boots and heels, all made with a wider toe box to fit Asian foot shapes.
Inside the store.
Courtesy
“We want people to come into the stores and stay here and feel like they’re at home,” said Jonathan Lelonek, brand president for Weitzman, calling Plaza 66 “the most premier and luxurious shopping experience in China.”
In China, the retail concept will soon roll out in Shenzhen and Macao, before traveling back to the U.S. with a new store in Miami.
Lelonek said that the sneaker category has been performing “extremely well” in China. The excitement was spurred by a China exclusive, a pair of red and white ballet sneakers with bedazzled hardware. Launched during the Year of the Horse in late January, the style was subsequently rolled out to the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
For the veteran Weitzman executive, the Caleres acquisition has fueled product development. “We have newer capabilities to develop different types of sneakers that maybe we couldn’t before, because they work with so many footwear brands, we have access to more resources — and can produce things faster,” Lelonek added.
Lelonek also stresses that consumer preferences across China, the U.S. and Europe are now “more similar than different,” with the Chinese market both absorbing global bestsellers and driving categories, in particular sneakers.
Stuart Weitzman is focusing heavily on bringing excitement and authority back to the boot category, in particular its hero product — the 50/50 style, alongside its booties, added Lelonek.
“People are wanting to get dressed up again, and we do that best,” said Lelonek.
Yang Mi in Stuart Weitzman.
Courtesy
To commemorate the launch, Stuart Weitzman hosted a launch party against the backdrop of Shanghai’s skyline, which was a costar in its latest fall 2026 campaign, which starred Yang alongside supermodel Gigi Hadid and dancer Misty Copeland. Set against the skylines of New York City and Shanghai, the images aim to honor the brand’s founding inspiration in 1986 — the metropolitan woman — while also bringing back some of its biggest campaign stars from the last decade.
