First Person: Jimmy Choo
Having forged a career designing shoes for the likes of the late Princess Diana and other A-list celebrities, Jimmy Choo now divides his time between Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK as he eases into a more leisurely life. He tells Adele Wong how he became one of the most revered fashion icons in the world.
I grew up in Penang, Malaysia. When I was young, my father taught me how to make shoes. One day, I went to the UK for a holiday. People told me there was a shoe college there called Cordwainers College—now it’s part of the London College of Fashion. They said, “Why don’t you go and enroll?”
I talked to the principal at Cordwainers, and he said, “Well, you know how to make shoes but you don’t know how to design. Why don’t you enroll in a design course?” So I called my father, and he said he could sponsor me.
After that, I worked for a factory to get experience. Then I started my own shop in the East End. The rent was 50 pounds a week, or month—I can’t remember now. But of course when my business just started, nobody came. But my parents were very kind, because they flew to London to help me out.
My shoes were 30 pounds to 50 pounds per pair, and nobody wanted to buy them. We’re talking about 25 years ago. Now my most basic shoe sells for 630 pounds.
So I started selling cheap shoes, at five pounds per pair. I was making cheap sandals, but with no Jimmy Choo name. It was just a plain handmade shoe.
My luck is always with the ladies you know. It’s always the ladies helping me out.
One year I designed a shoe for two lady designers at a Spring/Summer show with lots of roses and flowers, and at that time John Galliano also had dresses with all these beautiful flowers, so when the media shot John’s dress they also shot my shoe to match. Then Vogue UK saw and wanted to feature my shoes, which led to an eight-page spread in the August 1988 issue. That was lucky.