Jimmy Choo’s artistic director Sandra Choi needs only three adjectives to express the platform sandal – and the most famous shoe on the Oscars red carpet in the past 15 years – that has transformed the small London business of Malaysian origin shoemaker, Jimmy Choo, into a global phenomenon with more than 180 stores in 32 countries. You might think that a billion dollar company that epitomizes high-gloss fashion with a capital F would have little incentive to reinvent the wheel. This is not the case, says Choi.
It was in 1998 that Jimmy Choo, with Choi, the educated niece of the founder of Central Saint Martins, as the little principal, and the leggy British socialite Tamara Mellon (who left the company in 2011) as the public face – took a sequel to The Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel and began outfitting the Oscars bound in her dizzying stiletto heels. Tonight, the luxury shoe maker is in 90210 again, this time throwing a party at the home of contemporary art patron Eugenio López to officially welcome Choi in her leadership role, to which she was named the last year.
The scene is more familiar to the inhabitants of the art world than to the glitter of Tinseltown: a work by Tracey Emin hangs in the pool house; Los Angeles-based street artist Retna created a custom mural backdrop for the evening’s musical performance by summer band Bastille; and a roster of international It-Girl-cum-DJs – Chelsea Leyland, Mia Moretti, Hannah Bronfman, Mary Charteris, Solange – relax on the lawn alongside a yellow stainless steel elephant Jeff Koons. The gathering is also a celebration of CHOO.08°, Choi’s new range, which features not-so-chunky T-shaped ankle boots and pointy toe ankle boots. Rather improbably, she adds new adjectives to the Jimmy Choo lexicon: practical, comfortable, relaxed.
CHOO.08° —the number refers to the longitudinal position of London — realigns the house with a new center of gravity, which is good news for some of the guests tonight. Leyland arrived at the party straight from Coachella wearing a super-cropped Emilio de la Morena dress, but her shoes – slip-ons inspired by menswear – are the type more commonly associated with Manhattan sidewalks than they are. LA pool parties. Grid skipper says it’s all about balance: “I don’t want to look really scruffy, but not overdone either.” Leyland’s friend Fuschia Kate Sumner agrees: “A low heel is more modern,” says she, showing off the urban ankle boots she matched with her crop top and Stella McCartney miniskirt.
The rest of the cool-girl melee couldn’t agree more. “I’m so happy to find wearable shoes,” tomboy singer Aluna Francis enthuses as Bastille embarks on her set. Vibrant on “Pompeii” and “Things We Lost in the Fire”, she seems comfortable in her short Balenciaga suit – with the help, of course, of her Jimmy Choo kicks.
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