NANCY GEIST

Early in my creative life I designed stage costumes for rock musicians, wrote essays for fanzines, and spent all my free time painting, making furniture, photographs and body ornamentation. While I was studying sculpture at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), shoe fever hit me!  And for over 20 years I have been creating luxury footwear handcrafted in Italy by the finest of artisans.

ZEITGEIST... the beginning 

After having designed for a few large international design houses, I set out on my own in 1993 to establish Zeitgeist, a design house focused on creating visionary footwear and accessories for women.

The Zeitgeist brand, which could be found in America's finest retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales, rapidly became known for its edgy elegance. Zeitgeist also created footwear under licensee for Cynthia Rowley from 1993 til 2007. The designs captured the attention of the Italian Trade Commission who honored the line with the Michelangelo award in 1996. 

Over the years, the Zeitgeist label metamorphosed and was re-branded as NancyNancy. 1999 brought the debut of the Nancy Geist collection and the opening of my shop in SOHO. For seven years the exclusive boutique, situated on the corner of trendy Spring & Mercer, featured footwear, handbags and accessories from the Nancy Geist and NancyNancy lines. Both brands were recognized and distributed around the world with a following in Europe, Japan, Russia, and Australia.

Butter and Something Bleu made their debut in 2007. Still hand-crafted in Italy, these flirty and feminine styles win the hearts of women around the world.

My designs for my own lines, as well as collaborations, bring me great satisfaction. These include a long standing collaboration with my first licensee Cynthia Rowley, plus creating runway shoes for other fellow CFDA members Shelly Steffee, Patrick Robinson, Randolph Duke / Halston, Amy Smilovic / Tibi, and Yeohlee. I have always looked forward to sharing my perspective and expertise in creating, executing, and delivering fashion product.