“A person should never have to fit a
pair of shoes, the shoe should be able to fit the person,”
‘Jimmy Choo’, two words which mean only one thing in any fashion-fanatics dictionary ‘Shoe Heaven’
Those
gorgeous designs, from ready-to-wear to limited editions, from snake-skin to
leather, from evening wear to boots; all us shoe-lovers know that owning a
Jimmy Choo is the highlight of your wardrobe. In fact, according to me you
should have a separate wardrobe to put those exquisite heels on display for the
world to see that you are a proud owner of a little bit of extravagance.
Okay, so it
sounds like I’m exaggerating right?
Well, I’m
not.
You’ve heard
thieves stealing priceless paintings, diamonds, LEDs and McBooks. Well, you can
add your Jimmy Choos to that list. I’m not kidding.
Last Friday
(June 8, 2012) an expensive pair of red-skin Jimmy Choos worth 2,000 pounds was
stolen in a burglary at Cardiff (Capital city of Wales) and the police are
investigating the case, urging people to inform should a sale of the shoes come
up anywhere. No seriously, here’s the link below:-
So now that
we’ve established that Jimmy Choo designs are extravagant pieces of art, let’s
head down to a very basic question, the artist behind these beauties.
The answer
is pretty obvious right? The face behind Jimmy Choo will, of course, be Jimmy
Choo!
Wrong.
As shocking
as it sounds, the face behind the label Jimmy Choo isn’t the man himself!
In fact, when you purchase a pair from a
Choo boutique, you’re not buying an original work of Jimmy Choo the designer.
You’re probably
wondering about the crap this crazy woman is talking but I’m not creating any falsehoods.
and I can prove it. But for that, we need to rewind a little.
From Chow to Choo
So, how many
of you were aware that Jimmy’s original family name is really Chow? It was actually a spelling error
on his birth certificate from where the legen- (wait for it) –dary name ‘Choo’
originated.
 | |
| Sandra Choi and Simon Holloway |
Choo was
born in 1961 in Penang, Malaysia in a family of Chinese shoe-makers. His birth
name is Choo Yeang Keat. He made his first shoe at the age of 11 (yes, he is
born shoe prodigy!!!!) and devotes his success to his father.
''My father gave me this skill. He
gave me 100% so I want to give back the same thing my father gave me. I want to
give back to the younger generation,”
He graduated
from Cordwainers Technical College in London in 1983. He funded his tution fees
by working part-time at restaurants and at a shoe-factory as a cleaner.
In 1984, he
sold his first pair of shoes under the Lucky Shoes brand.
 |
| Tamara Mellon |
Finally, in
1986, Choo opened his first workshop after renting an old hospital building in
East London. For the first decade, all his shoes were hand-made. And get this;
his shoes (at that time) had a cost of only 30 pounds each! Can you believe it?
Tamara Mellon
In May 1988 British
Vogue’s Accessories Editor, Tamara Mellon, gave Choo his first big break with
an eight-page spread of his designs.
From Choo to Choi
Sandra Choi,
the niece of Choo’s wife Datin Rebecca, joined the legendary shoe-maker in his
craft in 1991 as his apprentice. She
loved working with him and both were having a ‘happy and creative’ time right
after Vogue’s spread of Jimmy’s shoes.
Important,
rich clientele began visiting the workshop to place order for their dresses.
Sometimes they would bring along the color and fabric to match the designs with
their dress.
Princess Diana
One of the
most important and regular client of their was the late Princess Diana. She is
rumoured to have brought the same design in several colors and after her separation,
Choo made her several shoes with delicate high heels that she couldn’t have
worn with her previous (shorter) husband.
“She
loved flat pumps, even though I always wanted to put her in sandals because she
had the
most perfect feet. She was always eager to exchange ideas, and she never said no to anything.
When I started doing her evening shoes, everyone noticed and in those days anything she wore,
people followed. She was wonderful and used to invite me to Kensington Palace at Christmas for champagne and mince pies.” – Jimmy Choo
most perfect feet. She was always eager to exchange ideas, and she never said no to anything.
When I started doing her evening shoes, everyone noticed and in those days anything she wore,
people followed. She was wonderful and used to invite me to Kensington Palace at Christmas for champagne and mince pies.” – Jimmy Choo
“I made
her last pair of shoes just before she died. Gold pumps. I was going to deliver them when she came back from her summer. I am sad I never could.” He says as he keeps the shoes in loving memory of his dear friend.
The Jimmy Choo Limited
During the
1990s, the work-load increased tremendously. Everything was being done in-house
and so the small workshop in East London was finding it hard to expand.
In 1996,
Tamar approached Jimmy with a business proposition. With the help of her father
Tom Yeardye (co-founder of the Vidal Sassoon hair-care empire) the Jimmy Choo
Ltd. was established on Oxford Street, London with both Tamara and Jimmy
holding 50% stake each and Tom Y. as the chairman. Tamara remained as Managing
Director while Choo’s apprentice niece joined the firm as Creative Director.
This marked
the birth of the ‘Jimmy Ready-to-Wear Collection;
1996 --> First shop in Knightsbridge, London
1998 --> New York City, Beverly Hills LA
1999 --> Las Vegas
Cracks
between Choi and Choo had already begun to appear in 1996 when Sandra chose to
work for Tamara as a Creative Director. In 2001, Choo sold his stake in the
company to Equinox Luxury Holdings for 8.8 million pounds (12.6 million
dollars).
Robert Bensoussan
became the new CEO while Mellon became the President and Tom continued as the
Chairman of the Board. Mellon and her father both divided the remaining 49%
share equally. Sandra was given a small amount of the Sweet Equity.
2004 --> Lion Capital acquired the majority
share-holding
2007 --> Tower Brook Capital Partners
purchased the company for 225 million pounds
2011 --> Labelux purcharsed it for 525.5
million pounds. They are the current owners.
The Jimmy Choo Couture
After
selling his share in the company, Choo announced that he would continue to work
on his custom-made business. He signed a license agreement with the then CEO Bensoussan.
He was granted a 7 year license in his own name. He was allowed to cater to his
private clients provided he labeled his works as ‘Jimmy Choo Couture’, never
operated outside London, never spoke to the press about anything without
explicit permission and priced all his works more than the ‘Ready to Wear’
collection.
The boutique
is located at 18 Cannaught Street Paddington. This Exclusive Company produces
3-4 pairs a day. His customer’s lists only include the rich and famous. Some of
them include Cate Blanchett (her much-talked about 1999 Academy Awards shoes), Madonna
(who wore Jimmy Choo shoes on her wedding day), Halle Berry¸ Victoria Beckham,
Katherine Heigl, Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce, Cameron Diaz, Kyliue Minogue, Jessica
Simpson, Jennifer Lopez.
He is also
over-seeing a Malaysian shoe-making institute.
 |
| Renee Ashley Barker's 33 1/3 carat diamond shoes |
 |
| Bridal Couture |
JIMMY CHOO'S 'ICONS' COLLECTION
 |
| ANITA 1095.00 euros |
 |
| AVA 565.00 euros |
 |
| BRIGITTE 695.00 euros |
 |
| FAYE 1295.00 euros |
 |
| GRETA 795.00 euros |
 |
| LAUREN 1750.00 euros |
 |
| MARLENE 1395.00 euros |
 |
| RAQUEL 1050.00 euros |
 |
| RITA 1195.00 euros |
 |
| TIPPI 895.00 euros |
 |
| SHIRLEY 1495.00 euros |
MISCELLANEOUS
Official Website:-
http://www.jimmychoo.com/page/home/
Book:-
THE JIMMY CHOO STORY
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ASffGVrRU3QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+jimmy+choo+story&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QdHZT9O7JIunrAfc_YzyBw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20jimmy%20choo%20story&f=false
OR
THE TOWERING WORLD OF JIMMY CHOO
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ti_wUa9cwmsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+jimmy+choo+story&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QdHZT9O7JIunrAfc_YzyBw&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20jimmy%20choo%20story&f=false
That's all for today folks!
~Demz
