Jimmy Choo and 25 years of Sex and the City
•Posted on November 27 2023
Birth of a myth
Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat was born in Malaysia, in Penang, in 1948. Jimmy's family produced shoes and encouraged and developed his passion for fashion and style . From a very young age, at just eleven years old, he made his first pair of shoes. After graduating from Cordwainers' Technical College in London, in 1986 he opened his first shoe workshop in London, renovating an old hospital. Jimmy Choo's incredible talent manages to emerge in a very short time. Just two years after the workshop opened, Lady Diana Spencer , Princess of Wales and wife of Prince Charles, wore his shoes to a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in London. That day forever marked the designer's life, because the princess's look and her shoes in particular were reported in all the newspapers. Vogue magazine dedicates an article to Jimmy Choo who becomes one of the most popular fashion designers in the world.
The partnership with Vogue continued until 1996, the year in which Jimmy Choo, together with Tamara Mellon, editor of Vogue, founded Jimmy Choo Ltd.
In 2001 Jimmy Choo decided to focus his creativity only on high fashion , leaving the brand's ready-to-wear to Mellon and his niece Sandra Choi. In this period, production was extended to accessories such as sunglasses , bags, belts and hats.
Currently the turnover of the Jimmy Choo company stands at over 550 million dollars, making it one of the accessories companies with the highest turnover in the world .
The continuation of a legend
The success of the Jimmy Choo brand is undoubtedly linked to the fascination that the accessories have had on the women who have worn its collections. Not only Princess Diana, but also Michelle Obama, Nicole Kidman, Lady Gaga . The list is very long and could go on for pages.
Carrie Bradshow , the protagonist of Sex and the City , is undoubtedly the most famous Jimmy Choo brand ambassador. Carrie has an immense love for the brand and for shoes which leads her to spend all her assets 'investing' in her greatest object of desire. “You're telling me I spent $40,000 on shoes and I have nowhere to live? I will literally be reduced to living in my shoes...", is one of her most famous phrases in the series.
First broadcast on HBO from 1998 to 2004 and created by Darren Star, Sex and the City is based on the book of the same name by Candace Bushnell and tells the lives of four single women in New York: Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte York (by Kristin Davis) and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall). It is not just a simple television series but a cultural icon , which has had a strong impact on fashion, pop culture and the representation of women, not only on the small screen, but also in society.
Sex and the City was revolutionary for its innovative approach to sexual themes and sentimental issues, clearing the vices and pleasures of single women, from sex toys to the freedom of being single and independent. It also represents a strong and loyal female friendship. But above all, fashion has chosen the series as an alternative showcase with unforgettable outfits both for fifty-year-olds who were girls at the time of the first episodes and for young people today.
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