Via Spiga Partners With Kenneth Jay Lane to Create 25th Anniversary Limited Edition Capsule Collection

ST. LOUIS, July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Via Spiga, a brand of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (www.brownshoe.com) (NYSE: BWS) is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a partnership with world-renowned jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane to create a limited edition couture shoe collection. The commemorative line will debut this fall.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100719/CG36418)

(Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100719/CG36418)

This is the first-ever partnership between Via Spiga and Kenneth Jay Lane. The 25th Anniversary Capsule Collection shoes are designed by Via Spiga's Creative Director, Paola Venturi, in collaboration with Lane, and will include inspiration from some of the celebrated jeweler's most famous creations. Lane's rise from Vogue magazine's art department to heralded jewelry designer included a stop in footwear. He developed collections for Delman and Christian Dior, and it was while working for the latter that he began to embellish shoes with rhinestones and discover ideas for jewelry.

"The Via Spiga style is truly timeless," said Kenneth Jay Lane. "I am thrilled to help create a dazzling collection to celebrate 25 years of this incredible brand."

The capsule collection will include limited-edition designs that bring to life Via Spiga's sophisticated and enduring Italian style. Venturi has selected a Kenneth Jay Lane crystal embellished snake ornament to adorn each of the shoes in singular fashion.

"For 25 years we have been creating authentic Italian designs that the sophisticated American woman can wear every day, and we want to commemorate Via Spiga's anniversary with our customers.  Kenneth Jay Lane's work has brought elegance and luxury to women for decades, and we've collaborated to offer a stunning capsule collection to consumers who love both brands," said Jay Schmidt, Brown Shoe's Senior Vice President-Wholesale, Better & Image Brands.

The 25th Anniversary Capsule Collection will be sold on ViaSpiga.com and at Via Spiga’s flagship store in New York’s Soho neighborhood beginning in October 2010. For more information visit www.viaspiga.com, become a fan at www.facebook.com/ViaSpiga, and follow Via Spiga on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ViaSpiga.

About Kenneth Jay Lane

Michigan-born Lane graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1954 and moved to New York for a stint in the Vogue Art department. This whetted his appetite for fashion, and made him realize that he wanted to design and create the products he saw around him. Shoes were his starting point – he worked on collections for Delman and Christian Dior – and it was whilst working for the latter that he began to embellish shoes with rhinestones and play around with ideas for jewelry. Before long his collections were being snapped up by hot boutiques across Manhattan, as well as royalty and movie stars, and he was proving that costume jewelry could be as beautiful as the "real thing."

Fast-forward to today and his name has become more internationally recognized than ever. His designs have been worn by such fashionistas as: Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, The Duchess of Windsor, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Britney Spears and Nicole Kidman. However you chose to dress with them now, they will be equally wearable in seasons to come; as Lane himself says, "I like to create jewelry that can be worn any time of the year, by any woman. Glamour is all year round."

As impressive as it is that Royalty, Celebrities, and Socialites choose Kenneth's jewelry; it is not his primary focus. The designer's creations are inspired with the everyday woman in mind. For more information visit www.KennethJayLane.com.

About Brown Shoe

Via Spiga is a brand of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. Brown Shoe is a $2.3 billion global footwear company. Brown Shoe's Retail division operates Famous Footwear, a leading family branded footwear destination with over 1,100 stores nationwide and e-commerce site FamousFootwear.com, approximately 270 specialty retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and China primarily under the Naturalizer brand name, and footwear e-tailer shoes.com. Through its wholesale divisions, Brown Shoe designs and markets leading footwear brands including Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl's, Franco Sarto, LifeStride, Etienne Aigner, Sam Edelman, Via Spiga, Vera Wang Lavender and Buster Brown. Brown Shoe press releases are available on the Company's website at www.brownshoe.com.

SOURCE Brown Shoe Company, Inc.

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