Jimmy Choo

Born in Penang, Malaysia in 1961 into a family of shoe makers, Jimmy Choo made his first shoe when he was only 11 years old. He attended Cordwainers's Technical College in London and the London College of Fashion.

All of Jimmy Choo's shoes are hand-made. His perfectionist craftsmanship is always displayed in the most simple details. Jimmy Choo's shoes are never overtly fashionable yet are equal in elegance to the designer clothes that they are usually worn with. His style is elegant, feminine, and very sexy. They were a favourite of the Princess of Wales, who would buy several colours of one style for her evening wear wardrobe and to coordinate with her day suits. Jimmy Choo also lost count of the number of shoes he made for Princess Diana. After her separation with Prince Charles, she could frequently be seen in his delicate high-heeled shoes, a style that she could not always wear when walking beside her shorter husband. 

Jimmy Choo himself is no longer directly connected with the shoe designing house which he initially founded. In 1996, he sold 50 % interest in his company to Tamara Yeardye Mellon, former UK Vogue accessories editor. She and Jimmy Choo's niece Sandra Choi then launched the Jimmy Choo ready-to-wear line. Jimmy Choo was then a partner but was not involved in running the business.

Tamara Mellon has led the company to grow and expand in size and reputation. In 2001 she bought out Jimmy Choo completely, for about $ 30 million. The company has since then expanded from 1 shop in London to 4 stand alone shops in London, New York, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles as well as about 80 retail outlets. Then in November 2004, it was announced that Tamara had sold the whole concern to Phoenix Equity Partners for around 101 million pounds.

Jimmy Choo was later on awarded an OBE by the Queen in London in June 2003 for his services towards making London the design centre of the world for the fashion industry, and particularly in footwear design.
 

Find shoes by Jimmy Choo @ the following eshop: