'If the Shoe Fits…' It Does for Mary Ann Weisberg

Luxe Me Now showcases luxury slipper collection at Saks Fifth Avenue

JIM POWERS Arts & Entertainment, Shopping

 

Women and their shoes.

There is no denying the relationship women have with footwear, and how it speaks as much about who they are as the wardrobe they are wearing.

“No man can possibly understand what that is, but I think it's part of our DNA,” says Mary Ann Weisberg, owner of LMN (Luxe Me Now) and a part-time Coachella Valley resident. “I've never met a girl that doesn't have a thing for shoes.”

That may explain why Weisberg is where she is today. More than a decade ago, Weisberg bought four pairs of slippers while in London. She literally wore them until she couldn’t, and when her husband, Bryce Perry, asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she pointed to her tattered slippers.

“There were just none to be had in the market,” Weisberg recalls.

Perry came up with a solution at a time when Weisberg was trying to figure out where to point her energies next.

“I think what I'm most fearful of is waking up and not having something to do, and not having a drive or having a goal or doing something,” Weisberg says.

So she started LMN, creating a line of elegant slippers that spoke to a woman’s sense of beauty and femininity.

She will showcase her latest selections from 1-4 p.m. Nov. 21 at Saks Fifth Avenue at the Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert.

“There's something when you come home whether it's a rainy day or a day that you happen to feel fat or a day that you happen to not feel good, you have a cold,” Weisberg explains. “You want to put on something that makes you feel better, brings smile to your face and makes you feel just that much better.”

Weisberg recently took time to answer a few questions from Palm Springs Life.

Have you always had an affinity for slippers?
“When I was growing up in Michigan, my mother always wore slippers. I've always had a thing about covering my footwear. It’s probably a Midwestern thing about cold winters. I wore these shoes called Jacques Levine when I was growing up and they were frumpy, but I didn't really know any better until I found these incredible slippers in London. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, these are fabulous’.”

Who was the important piece to getting your company off the ground?
“I met Francis (You, president of LMN) while my husband and I were building our Los Angeles home, and she is the most remarkable woman you could ever possibly hope to meet. She gets out of the car for her interview and steps out of the car, the most gorgeous, longhair, thin, beautiful, Asian woman. I said, ‘You're hired,’ before she even opened her mouth.  This idea could have just been a dream that I never would have acted on. But here came Francis into my life with her youth, enthusiasm and excitement combined with my love of fashion, and together we form this really unique blend.”

Why is Saks a good fit for your footwear?
“I had a history with the company as a client. I wasn't afraid of going to them because I knew they would be straightforward and honest with me. I knew they would help and guide me into what designs are most suitable for their clientele, and the different parts of the country. It was really a wonderful interaction with them, and they have been incredibly supportive. I can't speak highly enough of the company.”

How long have you been coming out to the desert?
"I've been coming out there since the 1960s. My parents always had a home in the desert. In those days, they were back in Smoke Tree. My mother used to come and spend the winter months and my father had business on the coast.  I used to come there for the horse competitions in Indio (now in Thermal). When I decided it was time to retire from the horses, that’s when I was involved with building the house that we presently have at the Hideaway.”

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