TEXT, VIVIAN G. KELLY
The Tagline on the front cover of Crowe and De Rosen’s book says it all, “A glamorous story of power, profits, and the pursuit of the perfect shoe”.
LAUREN GOLDSTEIN CROWE and SAGRA MACEIRA De ROSEN really delivered the goods with this page turning tale, only it’s not a fairy tale – but a real life cautionary tale that should be required reading for any designer, new and old.
PLOT SUMMARY
Jimmy Choo [a real person] was a graduate of the prestigious Cordwainers school, who toiled in obscurity in a tiny workshop in London’s East End. All that changed when then-Voguette, Tamara Yeardye [later, Mellon] discovered him and made him a star. The book digs and paints a sometimes less than flattering portrait of the principal players. “By 1995, the partying was getting to be too much for her. Tamara was more often than not walking into Vogue House with a hangover. In May 1995 she resigned her position at Vogue and packed herself off to a rehab facility. … Six weeks later Tamara was back in London committed to a new business idea sh had devised. One of the first calls she made when she returned was to her favorite shoemaker – Jimmy Choo.” [p. 11].
The authors hold you captive – they did their research and no one is safe from their scrutiny – including Jimmy who is not the victim he tried to convey he was to the press. Neither is Tamara the wicked witch of the West. If nothing else, The Towering World of Jimmy Choo is a lesson in the old adage, “business is business”.
Knowing the background of this brand will give you a whole different outlook when you’re shopping the new H&M – Jimmy Choo Collection that opens Saturday, November 14th. There’s a whole lot more to this brand than knowing that “Carrie” from Sex & the City likes to wear Jimmies.
The Towering World of Jimmy Choo is a Bloomsbury Press Publication, hardcover $26, is available on amazon.com
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