What Jimmy Choo is known for
The red-carpet shoemaker — Romy pumps, crystal straps and London evening glamour under Sandra Choi’s long creative reign. Past-season pumps and evening styles land at The Mall outlet, Leccio Reggello, outside Florence.
Jimmy Choo the company was born in 1996 when Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon partnered with Jimmy Choo, the Malaysian-born East London couture shoemaker whose bespoke pumps already dressed Princess Diana. The insight was editorial: red-carpet culture was about to become the world's runway, and it would need a shoe brand native to it. The Oscars proved her right within seasons.
Sandra Choi — Choo's niece, in the atelier from the start — became creative director and has run the design language for the entire modern era: the Romy pump's clean line, crystal-strapped sandals, the Bing mule, bridal that owns the aisle. Mr. Choo sold his stake early; Mellon exited in 2011; the brand passed through private equity to Capri Holdings in 2017 for £896 million.
Choi's quarter-century reign is the industry's quiet record — few signatures have been guarded so long by one hand. London glamour, engineered for flashbulbs, still the name a limousine door expects.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Occasion shoes with red-carpet pedigree.
More in London
- Alexander McQueen — London
- Augustinus Bader — London
- Budd Shirtmakers — London
- Burberry — London
- Cad & The Dandy — London
- Charles Tyrwhitt — London
- Drake's — London
- Emma Willis — London
Where next
- Robinson's Shoes — Belfast
- George Cleverley — London
- Freed of London — London
Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement