Jimmy Choo
About
Dato' Jimmy Choo OBE, born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat, is a London-based luxury fashion designer best known for his hand-made women's shoes.
Jimmy Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1961 into a family of shoe makers. He made his first shoe when he was only 11 years old, but managed only to complete six years of formal education at Shih chung Primary School in Penang. He attended Cordwainers's Technical College in London and the London College of Fashion. He is perhaps the most famous of alumni of Cordwainers' Technical College in London, from which he graduated in 1983. The college is now part of the London College of Fashion. Choo has divulged that he worked part-time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his college education.
Choo's humble beginnings can be traced back to his workshop in Hackney, East London, which he opened in 1986 by renting an old hospital building. His craftsmanship and designs soon became noticed and he came to the verge of international fame when his creations were featured in a record eight pages in a 1988 issue of Vogue magazine.
The Look
All Choo shoes are hand-made, his perfectionist craftsmanship is displayed in their simple details. They are never overtly fashionable yet are equal in elegance to the designer clothes they are usually worn with. His style is elegant, feminine, maybe sexy. They were favoured by the Princess of Wales, who would buy one style in several colours for evening wear and to coordinate with her day suits. Choo favors crystalline colors, aqua, fuchsia, and bright orange and applies them to luxury fabrics like silk satin and shantung. Python and fish skin are some of his favorite materials because of the way they accept dye, and mink and feathers grace some of his styles. He has used a wide variety of stones, from Swarovski crystals to natural crystals for their healing power. His stiletto heels have been described as "dainty and deadly." Choo's philosophy is that shoes can be both beautiful and comfortable, and his devotees prove the point by their nearly fanatical devotion to his footwear.
Who Wears It
Princess Diana, Cate Blanchett, Madonna, Halle Berry¸Victoria Beckham, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Katherine Heigl, Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce, Cameron Diaz, Kyliue Minogue, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez