Jimmy Choo explains new London academy idea
Footwear designer Jimmy Choo has explained his reasons for opening a new design academy in London in September.
Speaking to BBC Radio on February 4, Mr Choo said he had no regrets about selling his 50% share of the Jimmy Choo brand in 2001, only five years after setting it up with business partner, Tamara Mellon. He said education and passing on his skills and knowledge were now his main aims.
Originally from Malaysia, from a shoe-making family of Chinese descent, he went to London in 1982 to study shoe design at Cordwainers College, now part of the London College of Fashion and the University of the Arts. He completed the course in 1984.
Jimmy Choo stayed in London and began trying to sell his handmade shoes for around £50 per pair from his workshop. “But I had no name and no media support and people didn’t come,” he said in the radio interview. “I realised that if people were not prepared to pay £50 for a pair of shoes made by a student, perhaps they would be able to afford £5 per pair and I started selling shoes on a stall on the South Bank.”
He built from there and caught the attention of Vogue, where Tamara Mellon was accessories editor, after London Fashion Week in 1988. The magazine ran an eight-page spread on his work. This helped bring him to the attention of his most famous early client, Princess Diana, whom he still describes as “a very kind princess, who always asked about my family and if I was able to find time to rest”.
These were perceptive questions. He said the reason he did not regret selling his 50% stake in Jimmy Choo, now owned by Capri Holdings, was that the decision had allowed him to spend much more quality time with his family. “Before that, I would often arrive home at three o’clock in the morning,” he said. “And during London Fashion Week I would sometimes have to go four or five days without going home.”
He confirmed that part of the course at the new JCA-London Fashion Academy will be the business side, something he said he had “learned the hard way”. He added: “Designers know how to design, but they also have to learn about accounts, how to talk to the media and which markets to sell into.”
Finally, he said he was optimistic about economies recovering after covid-19. “We’ve seen things like this before,” he said, “for example at the time of SARS [2002-2004]. I think that by June or July [this year] a lot of countries will be opening their doors.”
And in the meantime, he recommended following the practice of friends of his who, although they cannot go out and have to stay at home, dress up in the evening as though they were going out with, naturally, glamorous shoes as part of their outfits.
Image: Lawrence Wang-Wikipedia.
